June, 2020 / Volume 24, Issue 5 www.business-review.eu TOURISM GOES INTO “REMOTE ISLAND” MODE IN PANDEMIC TIMES

Tourism goes into “remote island” mode in pandemic times

Many of us have dreamed of spending our summer holidays on a remote island with no internet and phone connections – and with no other tourists than those we’d like to have with us. In most cases, it was just daydreaming – a way of disconnecting from the stressful reality. But this year, this innocent dream could become reality for many due to a one-off event: a virus that seems to have originated from a wet market in Wuhan, China, which has spread across the globe at tremendous speed.

By Sorin Melenciuc

This virus, technically called SARSCoV-2, causes the COVID-19 disease, which had killed more than 375,000 people all over the world by June 1. The virus has already infected millions of people and continues to spread. Even though many had hoped that the summer months would limit the spread of the virus, the latest developments leave little room for optimism.

SENSE OF INSECURITY Even if the pandemic seems to be losing momentum in Europe and North America, it’s spreading quickly in many counties with warm climates – from Bangladesh to Brazil and from Indonesia to Peru. This evolution, seen at the beginning of the summer holiday season in the Western World, suggests that the tourism sector will be forced to change in order to cope with tourists’ increasing sense of biological insecurity.

Another major challenge is that the international summer season will begin later than usual this year – in July, in most cases, after reopening measures are fully implemented. But the domestic tourism season has already begun in many countries, at the beginning of June or even in late May, as many governments – especially those of countries with a negative tourism balance - tend to support domestic tourism and delay resuming external travel.

ROMANIA’S CASE This is the case for Romania, which has had a negative tourism balance for many years

A major challenge is that the summer season will begin later than usual this year

– the number of foreign tourists visiting the country is much lower than the number of locals visiting other countries and spending money there. In fact, Romania has become less interesting as a destination for tourists from all continents since the summer of 2018, as their number has dropped constantly during the last couple of years. This situation exposes the weaknesses of the local tourism industry and the lack of well-managed tourist attractions in the country.

The drop became dramatic this year, as exacerbated by the pandemic. In March 2020, the number of foreign tourists in Romania fell by 79.8 percent year-on-year to 34,200, as the coronavirus resulted in cancelled flights and travel plans all over the world, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS). The number of foreign tourists from Europe declined by 79.1 percent compared to March 2019, to 26,200, while the number of Asian tourists decreased by 83.2 percent, to 3,700.

The contraction is expected to be even larger in April and May, when lockdown measures in Romania and most European countries closed hotels and restaurants and halted flights and travel. The Romanian government reopened much of the local tourism activ

ity on June 1 and further restriction lifting is expected within the next weeks.

Restaurants with outdoor seating and beaches are now open, with some social distancing requirements. Many people are already planning trips to sea or mountain resorts in Romania in the coming weekends, but there are also many people who think it is too soon to risk such travels. In fact, even if the number of new cases is in decline, the coronavirus outbreak is far from over. There are still thousands of active cases in Romania, and the number of daily new cases remains this kind of concept, from remote charming villages in Transylvania or Bucovina to the natural beauties of the Carpathian mountains and the Danube Delta.

over 100. And due to this uncertain situation, many Romanian tourists have been trying to find alternative ways to spend their summer holidays.

“REMOTE ISLAND” CONCEPT Many people are seeking tourism facilities offering “remote island” concepts. That means avoiding crowded popular resorts in the country and favouring locations and tourist facilities where there aren’t many people – at least not strangers.

“I think travel packages that involve a lot of people crammed into a hotel will have to suffer. Therefore, travelling will be more expensive, at least in the short and medium term, because of all the restrictions that will continue to remain in place and because of all the costly measures taken to protect tourists’ health,” says Razvan Pascu, a Romanian tourism consultant. Due to its geography, Romania has many places that could offer much easier to adapt to corona-tourism than big hotels and resorts, which risk being avoided by many tourists due to health and safety concerns. In fact, family businesses are generally managed by a single family, have few or no other employees and a small number of rooms for accommodation.

Many family businesses in these areas have developed during the last decades to offer rural and natural escapes to stressed middle-class inhabitants of big cities in the country as well as to foreign visitors, who are eager to discover traditions that industrialisation and urbanisation have erased from Western Europe.

Ironically, these kinds of businesses are

That’s why this type of businesses could benefit the most from the current pandemic, as they could only accommodate members of the same group of tourists – without exposing them to others – and offering services with a limited staff. At the same time, these small hostels and guesthouses offer a safe escape to many as they are usually in areas with low population density and large natural surroundings.

BUSINESS STRATEGIES Many travel business owners are already working to promote the new concepts with the best chances to attract tourists this summer. For many, it is a question of survival, because the number of tourists is expected to decline compared to the last few years, when higher wages and government-sponsored programmes had boosted domestic tourism in Romania.

Some business owners are already promoting their “corona-safe” guesthouses on social media. “An intimate place of protection from infection and withdrawal from urban agglomeration,” says one such ad, promoting a guesthouse in Azuga, Prahova County. Another guesthouse, located in the Danube Delta, ensures its visitors that it has taken “all necessary measures to reduce the risks of the new virus spreading.”

These businesses are generally small guesthouses managed by a single family offering accommodation, slow food, natural landscape, and fresh air. But they also provide something more important in these times: intimacy. Even if they don’t generate the same earnings as traditional tourism, these strategies could bring business owners some relief, allowing them to survive until the travel industry begins to recover.

In fact, these strategies are occurring naturally all over the world in these times. Palau, a remote island in the Pacific Ocean, is already promoting itself as a coronavirus-free zone hoping to attract tourists. In Romania’s case, the tourism industry is betting on domestic travellers in order to limit the damages. The industry hopes to find some help from the government, as it is one of the sectors which were hardest hit by the pandemic.

One key measure could be expanding an existing programme offering tourism-vouchers to state employees in order to encourage them to spend their holidays inside the country rather than going to popular destinations such as Greece, Turkey or Bulgaria. Over the last couple of years, this programme has been seen by many experts as a populist measure that has fueled price increases for tourist services and deepened the public deficit. Now, many are saying that this programme could save businesses and employment.

The best communication tools during and after the pandemic

Business leaders are leaning into their communication role as an essential resource to help them deal with COVID-19. 81 percent of respondents said the communication function is “important” or “very important” to their company’s COVID-19 response, according to a study conducted among 300 communications executives and senior leaders in March by the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) and the communications firm Peppercomm to gain a better understanding of how prepared businesses were for the pandemic and its effects.

By Romanita Oprea

Alina Damaschin, Rogalski Damaschin PR

Raluca Ene, Chapter 4 Romania

What have been agencies’ most important communication tools so far during the pandemic in Romania and why? In the case of Porter Novelli Romania, the communication processes had to be moved exclusively to the digital realm, where they were greeted by an overwhelming number of alternatives. “To stay in touch with our clients and colleagues, we have resorted to audio-video communication platforms to connect, share, and exchange information and thoughts, help each other, and even add a little humour to ease the pressure of these unprecedented times. Brands have been put to the test: catering to the true needs of communities in times of crisis. Purpose became the common denominator in every one of Porter Novelli’s endeavors. Nevertheless, we’ve used the pandemic to reinforce our commitment to this ethos – we integrated this mindset into the agency a year and a half ago and we think our 2019 projects are a testament to this,” said Sorina Mihai, managing partner at Porter Novelli Romania.

In her turn, Lavinia Chican, senior partner at McCann PR, believes that the increased appetite for information and entertainment during the lockdown and the restrictions placed on some of communication forms meant that the whole communication landscape shifted towards a mass-media approach – some modern (social media, streaming services, and the like) but also a significant increase in traditional channels like TV and radio. “We have seen an explosive growth in the need for media relations services during this time – as brands and organisations wanted to answer this new need for information from the public and foster their positive reputation. Also

significant was the rise of omnichannel communications. For a long time that was little more than an industry buzzword, but now companies needed closer contact with their public, so social media and messaging have become more important parts of their brand voice,” Chican explained.

Moreover, Alina Damaschin, creative leader & managing partner at Rogalski Damaschin PR, told BR that during the last two months the agency’s life have been mostly digital, and that all platforms were already there, allowing them to create a completely new working space overnight, with new ways ing on the client specifics and audiences, we chose the most relevant channels, from social media to online news platforms, blogs or vlogs. The most important, challenging, and rewarding part of our activity, however, was working to reshape our clients’ communication strategies and messages to match the public’s state of mind and expectations. To do this, we listened carefully, we practiced empathy, and took things one step at a time, highlighting information that could be useful and placing the end-user or customer at the center of all communication,” Raluca Ene stated.

of delivering “normal” services. “The whole communication world has moved to digital. Technically we were prepared, but in real life it was like suddenly deciding to wake up in the morning and start running a digital marathon. In a very short time, it was not just the delivery of consultancy that was digital, but most campaigns have also been fully moved or adapted to maximise their digital potential. For some businesses, it was the natural way of adjusting to restrictions and continuing to sell products or services, while for others, it was the right moment to push their existing available solutions,” said Damaschin.

The same situation was also reported by Raluca Ene, managing director at Chapter 4 Romania, a company that also saw most of its communication being moved online, prompting the team to focus more specifically on the online tools it had in in its toolkit. “Depend

As for the services clients have been asking for, Sorina Mihai said that as expected in the current context, the agency’s efforts have shifted onto internal communication projects, as well as crisis management, with a major focus on providing the most accurate information possible about the health and safety regulations imposed by local authorities and dictated by our clients’ industries. Last but not least, pro bono projects supporting initiatives that provided solutions to the COVID-19 crisis have also been part of our work during this time. In Rogalski Damaschin’s case, in the first part of lockdown companies have focused on supporting their employees. Internal communication was key, and it was mandatory to assist people in adapting to a new way of life and work. In the second part of the lockdown, when companies were more used to working from home and the torrent of news have been requested by clients, while others were developed by the agency to allow them to have more diverse communication options to choose from.

and they felt the need to engage their internal audience with more lighthearted news, the agency created some more “relaxed” content. “Some of our clients got involved from the very beginning either by directing funds to those groups or by adopting new business measures to maintain people’s access to their products or services, and we supported all these initiatives with communication,” said Alina Damaschin. There were projects adjusted to better respond to the needs of their target audience, such as entrepreneurs, as well as events organised online instead of face to face. Some of these adapted solutions

“We’ve always positioned ourselves as consultants and teammates for our clients, so in this period, even more than before, we have been in very close and constant contact with them, jointly deciding on our course of action with each new change in our surrounding reality. It naturally started with adapting the strategy and continuously adjusting our proactive outreach, based on any new measures imposed by authorities and how they impacted people’s lives. On a tactical level, this translated into using the most direct channels to communicate with the enduser and adjusting the content on an almost weekly basis, in some cases,” said Raluca Ene, managing director at Chapter 4 Romania.

Adaptability and flexibility – keywords for the advertising industry of the future

As the coronavirus pandemic hits businesses and their ad spend, advertising companies worldwide are preparing for a drop in demand, and some are telling their employees to expect staff cuts and furloughs, as CNBC reported. Moreover, the advertising industry is bracing for the wider impact of any economic fallout on client spending, since marketing is often one of the first areas businesses tend to cut during a financial downturn.

By Romanita Oprea

Dana Nae Popa, Pastel

According to Business Insider, JPMorgan Chase analysts said that the largest and most heavily leveraged companies, like WPP and Publicis, and those most exposed in Asia, like Dentsu, are the most at risk from advertisers cutting spending, while IPG could fare better because of its data and healthcare business.

But how is this impact seen and felt in Romania and what will the advertising of the future look like? According to Stefan Iordache, COO at Publicis Romania, we are already seeing big changes and not just in the communication industry, but in all sectors. What we are experiencing right now is unprecedented

Stefan Iordache, Publicis Groupe Romania

for most of us – and we are not just referring to the business/economic side, but also to the human impact.

“At this time, it is impossible to accurately evaluate the overall impact; we are all working on multiple scenarios, bearing in mind the safety of our employees and the sustainability of the business. A great example of the instant impact is digital behaviour. In less than a week, almost every part of our day-to-day life (both professional & personal) was moved to digital platforms. Fortunately, for our Group, this did not rock our boat, but rather accelerated all the digital projects we had going on and confirmed the relevance of the digital transformation process we have been going through in the past two years. Powered by the synergy between creativity, data, and technology, our aim is to offer to our customers access to the most advanced services and tools on the market, concentrated in four areas of expertise: Communication, Media, Data, and Technology,” said Stefan Iordache.

In turn, Dana Nae Popa, owner & managing director at pastel, thinks that this period has brought about both good things and bad things. Sadly, deadlines are even tighter, and so are budgets. But this is understandable considering the context. “I would love for us to recover as soon as possible and for this

dreadful context to become history. I also hope that during these atypical times we do not develop any nasty habits that stick with us, like we saw after the last crisis. The 90- or 120-day payment deadlines were invented back then –and those have not become history, but are still part of today’s reality. And since I mentioned that good stuff has also happened, I’m happy to notice brands’ mobilisation and mobility. The campaigns have much more sense, they are really moving things, and many of them really speak to people – something which will become common sense, I hope,” she noted.

As for the biggest changes they have seen among their clients, pastel’s representative said that one can’t talk about a big change that applies to all clients, because the impact has been different from one company to another.

Working with clients from very different industries, pastel’s employees have understood and discovered various ways in which companies could be affected which they couldn’t have thought of before. “For most of our clients the watchword was adaptation. From communication to working from home where it was possible, to stopping and resuming activity, to migrating online in record time, and so on. What pleasantly surprised me was the agility of huge companies to adapt or approve actions or campaigns that would normally take months, maybe years, and, especially, lots of signatures to be approved. I hope this flexibility becomes a habit, and that we will never again speak about stiffness, rigours or processes that block good ideas or actions that can bring real value to the company, to people, to society,” said Nae Popa.

“During this time, our clients are not simply looking to buy campaigns, media plans or consultancy - they want to buy growth, to make sure they can save their businesses and prepare for an uncertain future. Our initial work included reviewing commercial and corporate messages to realigning media plans to be much more dynamic and deliver shortterm ROI. They are more careful with budgets and media campaigns, which is normal in this context. This is what we set out to do over the past two months. We have worked around the clock to make sure that in addition to our day-to-day tasks, we could bring to life an innovative, data-driven approach. Which is why we developed and presented in-house products created specifically for this context to help our clients and partners,” said Teddy Dumitrescu, CEO at Publicis Romania.

When it comes to the impact of the pandemic on agencies, in Publicis’s case the impact has been huge first in terms of how people work. Even before the state of emer

gency, they decided to move all teams (+400 professionals) in Romania to work-fromhome mode. At the global Group level, currently there are +80,000 people working from home and successfully managing the communication of some of the most important global brands. Moreover, all agencies within the group joined hands and developed two in-house products: the Strategic Daily Bulletin and White Paper Reports. The Daily Bulletin is a product that was updated and sent daily to clients and included analysis, reports and the most relevant news in the COVID-19 context. White Papers are essential guides that contain recommendations and vital information for industries such as automotive, beer, finance, FMCG food and nonfood, oil & gas, retail, and telecom. They also provide details about business and communication during this period, recommendations, and actionable ideas for this specific context.

“They say that advertising lives in a bubble, but we at pastel have our own bubble inside the industry’s big one. We should seem covered and protected, right? But this time we weren’t, either. Working with clients from various sectors that have been affected in different ways also reflected on us. It has been a period that involves even more work, even if this isn’t necessarily reflected in revenues. We have had to adapt some campaigns overnight, let go of others entirely or build things from scratch. I’m happy that we adapted so quickly and efficiently to working from home,” pastel’s representative added.

A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE “It is complicated to assess what will happen to the market both in the short and long term, as we do not know whether we have seen the worst of it. Traditionally, the advertising/marcomm business mirrors the overall economic trends. This will likely not change. Everything else will most probably do. We ask our clients for what we ask from ourselves: resilience – this will not be a one off; transparency – the more we understand the better the solution; data-driven approach – informed and databased solutions are compulsory in these times; and trust – mutually beneficial, great collaborations are based on it & our teams know exactly what to do with it. We are facing unique times when we can develop together, experience new ways and open doors,” concluded the Publicis representatives.

“There are hundreds of reports, studies, analyses about what the communication market will look like, about the way brands will communicate, about how consumer behaviour will change, etc. These only show trends. Of course, we can relate to or rely on them, but I think we need to preserve our reactivity and adrenalin to the maximum amount in order to adapt to any change that may come. I believe that now, more than ever, we must actually learn from mistakes – whether ours or others’. Let’s learn as much as we can from this period, so that we can be as prepared as possible for anything the future brings. And as far as communication goes, I hope that brands will get even closer to people,” concluded Dana Nae Popa.

Power to the people: saving Bucharest’s heritage buildings

In the middle of the lockdown and the constant outpour of scary statistics about the death toll of the new coronavirus, the Bucharest City Hall launched public debates about the future utility of two historical landmarks which happen to be creative platforms for communities: Fabrica Club (11 Iunie Street) and Stirbei Palace (107 Calea Victoriei). The City Hall’s consultations were illegal, as both happened during the state of emergency, although the presidential decree stated that the provisions of the presidential decree should have led to the postponement of such actions. The NGO ARCEN found out about the public consultations that were due to take place and has managed to stop any commercial actions for the time being, together with the communities around these two places.

By Oana Vasiliu

Stirbei Palace, still beautiful without any facelift

The interior garden of Stirbei Palace is a beautiful and known bar, Eden

DOWN MEMORY LANE Located at the foot of Filaret Hill, on 11 Iunie Street, the Apollo Factory, currently known as Fabrica Club, was founded by Nicolae Cerchez and built in 1898. Since then, it has undergone many transformations or even mutilations, but it survived the two great wars, communism, and the atrocious assault of the real estate industry.

The Fabrica platform is an emblematic industrial heritage landmark for Bucharest and is specific to the Carol-Filaret District, part of a wider ecosystem of heritage buildings such as the Filaret Bus Station (1869), the First Electric Power Plant of Bucharest (1906), the Match Factory (1878), the Erhardt Wolff Plants (1887), and others. Fabrica has been hosting an organically created cultural hub for over 15 years, which has been validated over time by the residents in the neighbourhood and from all over Bucharest, as well as by the local and international creative scene. It is also an example of the reconversion of some industrial heritage buildings in line with global urbanism trends. It is a local business that gives life to a neighbourhood with potential.

The Stirbei Palace was built around 1835, based on the plans of French architect Michel Sanjouand, at the request of the future lord of Wallachia, Barbu Stirbei (1789-1869). The neoclassical palace that also features many Greek elements would be used by Barbu Stirbei between 1849-1856 as a royal residence where he hosted several balls and parties. After 1869, the palace became the property of the ruler’s sons, who built the stables and annexes on the land behind the palace. In 1881, the palace was restored by architect Friedrich Hartman at the request of Prince Alexandru Stirbei. Another floor was added, including a facade decorated with four caryatids, as well as the northeast tower. Between 2001 and 2004, the palace was recovered by the heirs of the Stirbei family and later sold in 2005 for EUR 11 million to businessman Ovidiu

Popescu, who died in 2011, and the building was left to his son, Alexandru Popescu, writes economica.net.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT “The recently established Municipal Sustainable Development Company has created a Zonal Urban Plan (PUZ) requesting derogations from the urban regulation and plans to demolish the current factory building and build an 8-floor residential and commercial complex for the benefit of Compania Imobiliara Gramont SA, in an area where local regulations stipulate that the maximum height of buildings should be 16 metres. The PUZ has already had all the necessary approvals, including that of the Culture and National Identity Ministry, and only needs the vote of the General Council to serve as the basis for the demolition of the buildings on the site,” a petition against the demolition reads.

After a wave of dissatisfaction arose and several support groups were created, on May 4, the Culture Ministry, through the Bucharest Culture Department, launched a classification procedure of the building located at 11 Iunie Street no. 50, Ovidiu entrance no. 6, where the Fabrica club operates.

For Fabrica, an online support group has been established and over 3,000 active members have signed petitions and sent emails to the City Hall to stop the construction of the new buildings. The media played an important role, covering the topic and collecting opinions from several architects, decision makers, the National Patrimony Institute, and even politicians to find out whether the City Hall’s initiative was following the correct path. Asked whether mass-media pressure was a good way to save heritage buildings, Alberto Grosescu from the ARCEN NGO says that “in recent years, the pressure exerted by the press on real estate developers and authorities has managed to block many projects or led to projects that did not comply with legislation to be reconsidered, so it is an important means of saving built heritage. Many of the actions we and other NGOs have taken would not have had any effect without the support of the press.”

The need for reaction is still on: although the Culture minister announced the beginning of the procedure to classify the factory building as a historical monument – meaning that there can be no intervention afterwards – so far, the City Hall has not withdrawn the project and is still planning to adopt the new Zonal Urban Plan on June 1, allowing the construction of buildings with more than 8 floors in the area.

“Even though the right to private property is guaranteed by the Constitution, we must not forget that the cultural landscape is for all of us, both for today and for future generations. There are many people who understand this and who report irregularities or illegalities that abuse property. Citizens get involved through official letters to lo

POLITICS DURING A PANDEMIC Edmond Niculusca, the president of ARCEN, discovered that the City Hall had invited citizens to a public consultation between April 1-24, 2020, on the development of the Urban Zonal Plan for the Stirbei Palace Multifunctional Complex at 107 Calea Victoriei. Neither the public nor specialists were able to share their observations and proposals, as the consultation period coincided with the restrictions imposed by the state of emergency, which limited citizens’ ability to move around the city. At the same time, ARCEN notified the City Hall about the fact that it hadn’t complied with the legal requirements of announcing the project on public platforms (city hall website, urbanism platform, etc.) while the project was in the public consultation phase. The debate about the Stirbei Palace has been

cal authorities, by informing NGOs or by supporting and circulating information to a large number of people. Every week, ARCEN receives numerous alerts from citizens about non-compliant interventions, construction sites or demolitions. Online petitions are very useful, because a large number of people who support a cause means putting pressure on the authorities or investors, who are required to react according to the law,” Albert Grosescu comments on the importance of citizen’s active involvement. ongoing for more than ten years now, with a multifunctional complex being the current proposal, including a real estate project which includes the construction of a 7-floor building in the garden of the Stirbei Palace on 107 Calea Victoriei, as well as the consolidation and restoration of the palace.

There’s still a long way to go to save Bucharest’s heritage, but seeing the civic involvement to fight against projects that might affect the creative and cultural spectrum, we can say that there is still hope.

The future of Romania’s private schools

No news about how and when will children go back to school

TALKING EDUCATIONAL BUSINESS In Romania, entrepreneurship in education means having an authorised unit for a scholar cycle (three years for kindergarten, five years for primary school, four years for secondary school and high school, five years for vocational school), and you can apply after finishing a cycle for accredited school, which brings you more credit for your educational act. A study conducted by Frames in 2019

Romania is slowly returning to its life before the coronavirus, although a series of daily problems remain: school was officially over in early May as the president announced, but people are going back to the office without clear solutions for those with kids, while private schools and day-care centres will stay closed, according to the law. Moreover, due to salary cuts and an upcoming economic crisis, parents are re-thinking their educational investments, while private schools are still calculating their losses.

By Oana Vasiliu

found that pre-university private schools – both schools and kindergartens – reached RON 173.3 million in 2018, with a prediction of over RON 200 million in 2019. But with all schools now in lockdown, the private sector is being hit by a profound crisis, while utilities, rent, and salaries must still be paid, even though the kids are no longer coming to school. Moreover, maintaining competitive salaries for personnel in the private school sector becomes increasingly difficult as the public system constantly offers bonuses and wage increases.

Just after the president’s decision to close down schools until September, the Romanian Montessori Federation and the Romanian Private Schools’ Association issued a memorandum to warn that keeping kindergartens and schools closed would shut down private education in Romania. As such, the organisations are asking for financial support from the government.

HELPING HANDS? The private school sector is asking the government to help it pay the salaries, including through a form of technical unemployment or lowering state contributions (the National Health Insurance and the Social Insurance), introducing tax exemptions and enabling negotiations with banks for credit lines, as most of these private units are foundations, so they cannot apply for funding. The same goes for the IMM Invest programme launched by the government, as it only targets companies.

Otherwise, about 150,000 children enrolled in private schools would have to join state schools this fall, meaning an extra 7,500 classrooms of 20 students each. Meanwhile, some 20,000 teachers and support staff working in private schools and kindergartens will be unemployed and not sure whether they can fit into the public system.

But the numbers are even worse: for each of these new classes you would need at least 1.5 new teachers and one auxiliary staff member, and if we looked at employment costs using the average gross salary in education – RON 5,635 – we get a total of RON 1.27 billion needed to pay these salaries to 18,750 people every year. While the numbers have been provided by the Private Schools’ Association, they’re easy to figure out by anyone, so does the Romanian government have this amount of money to support these extra children in the system, not to mention the money they would need to build or rent other buildings to integrate everyone?

ONLINE EDUCATION DURING PANDEMIC In an interview for Q Magazine, Dr Camelia Gavrila, the vice-president of the Education, Science, Youth, and Sport Comission, stated that around 40 percent of students did not benefit from online schooling during this period, but clear statistics are not available at this point, considering that the Education Ministry only recently discovered that over 250,000 students couldn’t take any online classes in this lockdown due to the lack of technological infrastructure, as minister Monica Anisie admitted. During this period, the Education Ministry has been struggling to ers in the public system have the skills to use the technology? Romanian students got lower scores in Reading, Mathematics, and Science in the 2018 PISA tests compared to both 2015 and 2012, while the share of functional illiteracy increased compared to 2015. The same study revealed that the average rate of

find solutions for distance learning. It has introduced online courses. Video lessons have also been broadcast by the public television TVR, especially for students in final years (eighth and twelfth grades) who have been preparing for national exams.

Needless to say, all private schools have developed their own online teaching and support systems for the children, trying to provide the same quality of education as they would in class.

Romanian authorities are also preparing for a scenario in which schools in the country would have to remain closed in September when the new school year should start. Courses could thus be moved online, and the local education system should be entirely digitized by then, the minister said in several TV interviews. In current conditions and without any financial support, more than 60 percent of private schools cannot continue operating, notes the Private Schools’ Association.

A question remains: while the private education system more or less forces you to adapt to digital interactions and technology, especially as a teacher, do children and teachfunctional illiteracy in Romania had increased from 39 percent in 2015 to 44 percent in 2018. It is quite clear why more and more parents are choosing private education over the public system, considering the horrifying statistics.

IS HOMESCHOOLING AN OPTION? Although the concept is widely used worldwide, Romania still doesn’t have any legislation regarding homeschooling. There are both pros and cons for this type of education, and it’s quite expensive, but it seems like a good alternative during a worldwide lockdown caused by a virus. The current criminal code says that “the parent or person to whom a minor has been entrusted, according to the law, and who unjustifiably and by any means withdraws or prevents them from attending compulsory general education, shall be punished by imprisonment from 3 months to one year or fined.” But a few hundred parents have nevertheless chosen homeschooling, by getting online training from a foreign school and then legalising their diplomas in the Romanian system, if necessary.

Dream of festival-filled summer may not come true this year

As I was writing this article, I should have been in Cluj-Napoca’s Unirii Square, where the Transylvania International Film Festival would have been ready to make its grand opening, as it has done for the past 19 years. I would probably have been talking with fellow journalists about the best sellers of the Bookfest International Fair and the intimate and incredibly cozy Green Hours Jazz Festival. But no. Although Untold’s #savethesummer campaign was launched and intensively promoted on social media just after the lockdown, our festival summer isn’t going to be saved. At least not yet.

By Oana Vasiliu

A few days later, the same government officials met with representatives of the entertainment industry and promised to extend the support measures provided during the state of emergency for those areas that continue to be affected by restrictions after June 1. They also offered a glimpse of hope: outdoor events might have a chance to come back based on the epidemiological situation following the first 15 days of lighter restrictions measures, meaning after July 1.

Missing live concerts

On May 21, the Culture minister talked to festival organisers in an attempt to come up with a series of measures to help the industry. “We’ve worked with the largest event organisers to provide predictability, to save the festival industry and to ensure that Romania will be among the players in this field next year. Provisions regarding the temporary measure of reimbursing tickets and taxes for non-residents have already been included in Emergency Degree 70/2020. Now we are in the process of drafting a law to be submitted to Parliament which should clarify the situation of big events, and the project will go through all the stages of public consultation,” said Culture minister Bogdan Gheorghiu. Such a legislative initiative to clarify the status of festivals with more than 1,000 participants is necessary in order to provide economic predictability for organisers.

There are therefore high hopes for those whose events were due to take place between August and mid-September. Ideo Ideis Young Theatre Festival from Alexandria, Teleorman County, just announced that they would hold the festival regardless of the evolution of the pandemic, as they have solutions for both online and offline attendance. Moreover, if outdoor events are permitted, the Anonimul Film Festival in Sfantu Gheorghe, Tulcea county, will take place, as Miruna Berescu,

the festival’s director, told Mediafax. Yet, on June 2, the major festivals from Romania, Summer Well, Untold, Neversea, Electric Castle, Jazz in the Park announced that they will be postponed for 2021.

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF THE STORY Digitalisation seems to be the solution, with online streaming of arts in any form. Most Romanian theatres have streamed online performances, the Romanian Opera also recently joined the online wave, while film festivals have been streaming their highlights. Unfortunately, the Sibiu International Theatre Festival was cancelled, but we can see the highlights of the greatest performances of last year’s edition online.

Finally, the Culture Ministry, through the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) and the Resita and Arad City Halls, announced massive acquisitions of contemporary art, in (another) attempt to save artists, while indoor activities are being postponed until better times. Drive-in cinemas may be winners after being banned by law, now it’s possible to organise drive-in events. The National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communications has already provided temporary radio frequencies, and additional regulation will probably come after June 15. Right now, there is only one drive-in cinema in Romania, at Baneasa Shopping City, but more can be put together using high-tech screens. From plays to stand-up comedy to music and, of course, movies, everything can be projected for the public who will sit safely in their cars, following social distancing rules.