Wine Day to be organised in new format in 2015

Chisinau, 17 September /MOLDPRES/- The Wine Day will be organised in a new format in 2015. The cultural events and tastings will be carried out at each winery. A decision to this end was taken at a meeting of the commission for organising the event.

Each winery having the needed infrastructure will have a schedule of the holiday on 3 and 4 October. "We have more wineries with necessary infrastructure. They will meet representatives of the Tourism Promotion Federation. We still have two weeks, enough time to organise the holiday at high level", Agriculture and Food Minister Ion Sula has said. He added that "tourists will be informed about the events due to be held during the holiday" at airports and hotels, as well as at other places from Chisinau.

"We agreed that colleagues from the Foreign and European Integration Ministry inform all participants, including those who have already booked hotels, plane, to be able to visit Moldova and celebrate the Wine Day," he said.

The head of the Oenologists Union of Moldova, Gheorghe Arpentin, confirmed that the decision to organise the event at each enterprise was taken to this end. "It is not time for holiday for us, even if we have a good year, given that the foreign markets are blocked and the share of wines exports dropped from 25 to 8 per cent in the overall exports."  

Wine-makers from Moldova, who have recently held a meeting, ruled not to organise the Wine Day in 2015, scheduled for 3-4 October, because of the protests staged on the Great National Assembly Square.

The Tourism Promotion Federation of Moldova issued a press release, thereby voicing concern about the winemakers' decision not to organise the event this year. "The holiday has already become a nice tradition, held years in a row, and such a decision might have negative consequences both for the tourism agencies and accommodation units, which will have big losses in this respect, and for Moldova's image at the national and international levels," the communique says.

"The problem resides in thousands of tourists who scheduled their visit to Moldova at the Wine Day, in the booked and paid air tickets, as well as accommodation rooms", the Federation's head Alexandru Filipschi said.

Over 15,000 foreigners and 100,000 visitors are expected to visit Chisinau on Wine Day.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor A. Raileanu)