Despite an inspired campaign by Sibiu’s supporters to achieve a Best City To Visit Championship first, Craiova’s solid victory marks another: Romania is the first country to ever win back to back tournament finals. Craiova was the second while Sibiu was the number one seed in the tournament and early on in the voting it seemed the 2013 champ was destined to bring me back for a return visit. Congratulations to Craiova and Dana, who originally nominated the city in Romania’s southwest back in February.
The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2015 Has Already Begun
I’ll be taking your contest opinions in an upcoming post later this week but it seems the controversies from this year’s tournament have already motivated a few cities from different parts of the globe to begin their campaigns for 2015. I have received emails from a few large organizations who are looking forward to challenging cities from Romania and beyond in about 10 months from now.
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I’ll See You In Craiova
In the past due to my personal deficiency yet valuable travel asset of planning most trips last minute, I’ve visited winners of best city tournaments toward the end of the calendar year. This time however I’m aiming to break the pattern and visit Craiova during its warmer months. You can find my current travel plans on my upcoming stops page and I hope if you’re in Craiova that we can meet up while I’m there. I’ll organize something on my Facebook page and look forward to seeing Craiova and having drinks with its local supporters!
Thank you everyone who participated followed, and voted in The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament 2014. Your participation gives the contest its life and whatever path it takes is always a fun ride to watch. Congratulations again to all of the cities for being nominated and Craiova for being 2014’s Best City to Visit!
Hey Anil!
It was a great pleasure and experience for me through out this BCTV Travel Contest! A roller coaster of emotions, hopes and plenty of work(to be honest). My congratulations to Dana and her team who promoted Craiova!
After all, i’m sad i won’t be able to meet u here in Sibiu, sad that Sibiu didn’t won, but still glad for Romania!
Best of regards to you and hats off for this contest! May u find the best rules for the next one!
Have a nice day,
Beniamin!
Beniamin, congrats for your efforts to promote and support Sibiu in this year’s competition! You are always welcome in Craiova! 🙂
i’ll look forward to. Maybe something is changed from the last time:D
Hi Beniamin, you and all of Sibiu’s supporters made this another very exciting BCTV (and thanks for the acronym by the way!) I’m sorry I’ll miss you in Sibiu but looking forward to seeing more of Romania this year.
It have been a real pleasure for me, Anil. Glad i could help(BCTV)…Bon chance!
Thank you, Anil, for having us in this competition and giving us a voice! It’s been a long and exciting ride. Every round has solicited more and more resources and more and more creative ideas on how to attract voters for what we, the locals, know it’s a wonderful city. I hope you’ll find it just as beautiful as we see it! 🙂
I was lucky to have submitted a destination filled with passionate people who helped by voting and spreading the word. You’ll meet us (well, not all 2,535 😀 ) this summer! Looking forward to seeing you here!
Thank you Dana for participating and all of the hard work! I’m really looking forward to exploring Craiova as it’s a place I know virtually nothing about – which is a great set up for surprises.
See you and the rest of Craiova some time soon!
Bravo Craiova! hope it will get more attention and little by little become an even nicer city.
…too bad for Sibiu 🙁
Hey Anil, we are waiting you in Craiova!
Beer is already in the cooler! 😉
Sweet!
Or maybe we have to prepare some good wine from the winery around the city?
I won’t say no to that 🙂
Ok, congrats – I’m really proud that a Romanian city won “The best city to visit” – especially since I am a Romanian. I’m sorry that you took it a little to personal and I will tell you why I wrote that comment that pissed you off so much. As a Romanian, I never met a single person that would go to Craiova just to visit, or just to enjoy e nice week-end in one of “the most beautiful cities of Romania” – we have a joke: some new tourists ask the receptionist: what can we do in Craiova? The guy tells them X, Y, Z – and after that you can have all the afternoon for yourselves…”. As a Romanian (and also, as it happens) as a national guide, I never had a tourist (I like to call them guests) interested in visiting Craiova. All the people I know that passed through Craiova, they did just that – passed through. I respect the lady/woman that came out with the city name, I respect all the voters from her non governmental association, but I can’t respect the final decision. When I said I kind of agree with what others said about your contest, I meant that things changed: – tell me if… according with the votes (numbers), things changed compared with the last year (I have a feeling that they did)? Please, don’t take it personal again, but for next year I will promote Copsa Mica. I have a big group that will support my choice! All the best (I’m going to Istanbul on 24th of April – if you will still be there, I would really like to meet you – if you would also like that!).
Bica
Dear Bica, I am the lady/woman that submitted Craiova in the competition. I worked in a travel agency, I am a traveller and I write about my travels on my blogs. As a travel enthusiast, I have guided both Romanians and foreigners inside and outside Romania (for free, in case you were wondering, as I don’t own a diploma to make me a national guide, as you probably do) and I have met guides from almost 20 countries. Luckily, none of them had this shallow perspective about their own country and cities, and none of them expected tourists to suggest destination, but instead advised them on what each city has to offer. Unfortunately, some guides act as consultants, suggesting tourists to visit what they assume tourists would want, which, in my humble opinion, is a mistake, as the guides should display all the posibilities and allow the tourists to pick what they’d like themselves.
Craiova is just one of several cities in Romania that are persistently avoided when it comes for guides to recommend destinations. Therefore, Craiova’s participation (and winning) of BCTV is meant to be an eye-opening experience for those who want to see. It is not a proof that it’s a better city or a better destination – it might prove that it’s not -, it’s just, as I said in a previous comment, a chance to voice out what it has to offer. You can accept this or not, it’s up to you, but I’ll be more than happy if you give it a chance and let me know what you think about it after you visit it. And as I always do, I offer to be your guide around the city. 🙂
PS: I don’t know what non governmental association you are talking about, I have made a list with those who supported Craiova in this competition, which might explain the number of votes it received: https://www.facebook.com/alexandra.daniela.ilie/posts/10152378412794122?stream_ref=10
A lot of the controversy intrigues me even more to be honest about Craiova and so many times I’ve been to places where I was told there’s “nothing” to see – only to be incredibly surprised 🙂
As for the changes in the votes, I haven’t looked at the total statistics or analyzed that kind of data yet. Though offhand I can say the contest has been ever more successful. I hope you have a great trip to Istanbul and if I happen to be around would be happy to meet up.