Short Summary
I am a
business news journalist and a media entrepreneur in Moldova, a country is Eastern
Europe. I am employed as the communication specialist at Development Alternatives,
Inc., an American company implementing an agricultural project in my country
(aced.md), and I also work at Business News Service S.R.L. (mold-street.com), a
4-men media enterprise where I am a co-founder and an investigative reporter.
During more
than 20 years of independence Moldova has built a modest tourism infrastructure
in its urban environment but the countryside tourism industry is flourishing. The
brochure about the roadside restaurants and hotels in Moldova is a first step
towards publishing a “Grand Book of
Traveler – A Charming Moldova”, a longtime plan to produce the first tourism
catalogue in the ex-Soviet state.
I will employ
two specialists to help me in this assignment – a professional photographer and
a driver.
We will be
visiting all restaurants / cafes and hotels / motels outside the cities and
towns, to put them all in one map, to shoot for high quality pictures, and to
gather information about their offers. We want to print some 400 copies of this
brochure in English and Russian and to distribute them to incoming visitors at
the major airports and stations. We hope our brochure will help foreigners find
a meal and bed while touring the country and will enable them to enjoy their
stay in Moldova as much as possible.
What We Need & What You Get
We need 3,714
USD overall to complete the project. Of this total cost, the driver will be
paid 480 USD for six days and the photographer will be paid 720 USD for the
same period. A designer’s services will cost 400 USD. We will spend another 114
USD for Diesel fuel, which will be enough to cover a 2,000 kilometer journey. The
printing services will cost 2,000 USD (400 copies * 5 USD) on average for full
color copies.
We don’t
know yet how many pages exactly will be in that brochure, because we don’t know
exactly how many restaurants and hotels were raised so far alongside Moldovan
roads. We believe there are between 70 and 50 venues worth seeing so we’ve
counted the printing cost for 60-64 pages at maximum.
The format of
the publication will be customized: 208/208 mm.
For contributing
folks we offer a copy of the brochure with a special offer inside! We will
negotiate special discount prices at a hotel or restaurant included in our
brochure. The offer will be contained in an insert invitation from the offering
party, for our contributors. The discount prices given in the invitation will
be valid for 1 to 5 years (yet a subject of negotiation). We have the following
options to negotiate: 1) A free drive to / from a venue included in our
brochure; 2) Free drinks for you and your partner/friend at the restaurant; 3)
Free house specialty food for you and your partner/friend at the restaurant; 4)
Fifty-percent hike in accommodation fee at the hotel; 5) A free guide during
the Moldova tour, for three days.
We hope to
complete the project within two months after we raise the entire amount.
We expect to
be able to save or to overspend some 10 percent of the total cost.
The Impact
The success
in the publishing of this brochure will help us complete a similar project for
Moldovan fortresses and castles, then another one for Moldovan monasteries and
churches, and so on. Each project will build an experience for the next
project. Our final goal as stated above - “Grand
Book of Traveler – A Charming Moldova” - will attract advertisers and media
attention, enabling us to collect sufficient funding for its production. This
book will become the first ever printed resource on tourism in Moldova, which foreign
visitors and even local travelers need.
In the past,
I created the first events calendar for Moldova (agenda.md). The service was
very popular and attracted as subscribers most of the Moldovan media companies,
international organizations and foreign diplomatic missions, several political
parties, a number of government institutions and city authorities, many
non-profit outlets, and even the presidential administration.
Business
News Service S.R.L. is my second company. We cover business and economy issues,
as well as investigations into corruption.
Risks & Challenges
I see three factors
that can delay implementation of this project: 1) unstable prices for printing
services and fuels; 2) low understanding of venue owners/managers as to why
they should offer special discounts for contributors to my project; 3) bad
weather for photo shooting. No major risks should be in sight.
As mentioned
above, I can foresee a 10-percent extra spending because of price drifting. On the
other hand, there’s a vague possibility that some venue owners / managers will
be willing to insert their advertising materials, and I would accept such an
approach. As for days with bad weather, well... we’ll have to wait for nicer
days.
Other Ways You Can Help
I have to
say thank you for taking your time to read my project. If you like it and can’t
contribute, please share it to others who might be interesting in creating some
buzz. If you want to contribute but wish another kind of perks, please let me know.
Anything is possible.
I will be
expecting your comments and enquiries by email (office@mold-street.com) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/aurel.stratan).