The “Voivode Stephen the Great and Saint” route, which includes thematic tourist attractions on the territory of the Republic of Moldova and Romania, could be extended to Ukraine. Several promotion and internationalization possibilities were discussed in a dedicated forum, held on December 17, 2020. The event organized by the Investment Agency took place in hybrid format, bringing together representatives from the Republic of Moldova, Romania and Ukraine.
In 2019 was created the first cross-border route in the region, “Voivode Stephen the Great and Saint”, including 29 tourist attractions on both banks of the Prut River, historically linked to the name of the voivode. The Investment Agency is an important partner for the development of the tourism sector, creating platforms for the promotion and support of industry. Rodica Verbeniuc, General Director of Investment Agency: “The personality of Voivode Stephen the Great and Saint remains a link between the historical, cultural, spiritual treasure and contemporary touristic objectives. I believe that it is our duty as citizens and public institutions to capitalize on the heritage left by the great ruler and to create platforms to support communities in the tourism ecosystem. The Investment Agency, as a developer of the route, together with the institutional partners from Romania, set out to connect the two countries to a regional and global tourist circuit. The voivode's personality has all the attributes to become the anchor of the local cultural offer in an international space, we want the route to become an option to extend the tourist stay for potential visitors from both European countries and from very distant countries, such as the states of Asia and the Middle East, Japan, the USA or Canada. We will continue the promotion actions by placing route information panels, as well as organizing guided tours, together with bloggers and vloggers.
The cultural-tourist route "Voivode of Stephen the Great and Saint" covers about 2,000 km and crosses eighteen localities in Romania, eleven localities in the Republic of Moldova and thirteen vineyards. The tourist attractions represented by the founded monasteries, the fortified fortresses, the ruins (royal cellars) over 500 years old, whose continuity has been preserved to this day and, last but not least, the museums in which are organized exhibitions with vestiges from the reign of Voivode Stephen the Great offers to the tourists spirituality and history lessons.
The route is completed by another 80 additional places, 34 from the Republic of Moldova and 46 from Romania, which offer wine tourism, adventure and gastronomic experience.
HE Daniel Ioniță, Ambassador of Romania to the Republic of Moldova: “Every tourist objective, every route needs a story, a legend, and our ruler Stephen the Great and Saint was an important historical figure, who represents an undisputed moral and historical landmark. In this context, the cultural-tourist route "Voivode Stephen the Great and Saint" is an opportunity to raise awareness and promote common cultural and tourist values by unifying destination marketing and promotion tools to express a coherent message. At the same time, this new initiative is a modern tool that protects our historical and spiritual treasure enrolling our country on the world tourist map. "
In order to be considered international, the cultural-tourist route "Voivode Stephen the Great and Saint" must cross 3 states, so the extension of the route in Ukraine is a natural step of promoting and internationalizing the route.
Serghei Humeniuk, Counselor, Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Moldova: “We have at least 2 tourist attractions located in Ukraine, directly linked with Stephen the Great that can be included in the route: White Fortress in Odessa region and Hotin Fortress in Chernivtsi region. Thus, if these expansion efforts continue, we can say that this route could become an extraordinarily good example for new cross-border projects, such as those in the field of viticulture.” With its extension, the route will be able to obtain Council of Europe certification, which offers many benefits: the opportunity to participate in the annual consultative forum; member countries and civil servants training, tourism organizations; network links and visibility increase actions, and also funding opportunities. Stefano Dominioni, Director, European Institute of Cultural Routes, Eu Council