The "Ocna Sibiului" resort brings together modern facilities and old architecture

Cornelia Angelescu

The completion of the restoration and modernization works of the spa resort, which was built over a hundred years ago, caused the turnover of the company "Staţiunea Ocna" SA, (the operator of the resort), to grow to EUR 1.6 million, in 2008. Dumitru Gheorghiu, the company"s General Manager, said that the company"s turnover increased more than 20% in 2008 YOY, but that 2009 is likely to be a more difficult year.

Mr. Gheorghiu said: "The company was created in 1995, with domestic capital. The shareholders have made sizeable investments in the restoration of the old spa resort, which was in an advanced stage of deterioration. In the 2006-2009 period alone, the investments amounted to EUR 4 million. We did our best to recover most of the old buildings. Due to its high slant, we were not able to salvage the central wing of the old complex, which was replaced by the current outdoor pool. Given this context, the tax exemption of reinvested profit would be very beneficial for us, and we are hoping the government will make a decision on this matter as soon as possible, because we are making sizeable investments in the facilities".

With 85 employees, "Ocna Resort" provides various service packages: accommodation, meals, leisure, treatment, and upon request, various entertainment services. Entertainment is provided by the company"s employees or by various collaborators: chariot rides, "rogue"s" lunch, contests, medieval knight shows, camp fires, fireworks etc.

Dumitru Gheorghiu said: "The all-inclusive system doesn"t refer to just meals, we offer half board as well as all full-board packages, but the latter is subject to a scorecard for each room. All inclusive is rather difficult to introduce in Romania for now due to excessively steep prices for food and drinks. On a different note, some of the issues we face are the lack of facilities for spa tourism, for which demand is increasing among travelers, whereas the second issue is finding qualified workers, which are completely inexistent in the field of spa treatment".

The company owns the "Salinas" and "Helios" hotels, which have a 3- and 4-star rating, respectively, restaurants and lounges, with the entire resort having received an ISO 9001 certification concerning quality management and the compliance with HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) regulations. It provides spa treatments and summertime sojourns, with summertime packages including week-ends, mini-holiday, relaxation and spa, etc. The filtering of the salt water pool has been automated, which keeps the curative water constantly clean.

For companies, Romanian and foreign associations, the "Ocna" resort can hold conferences (it has a center equipped with a conference room and two rooms for seminars), as well as outdoor events. Large companies and multinationals operating in Romania will find that apart from the excellent facilities, the landscapes are in league of their own, with salt water ponds and the string of lakes in the area.

The resort is open all year long, in the half board system. It provides Spa therapy and treatment and Spa relaxation and maintenance. Facilities include a salt water pool, sauna, hammam, fitness room, indoor and outdoor pool.