The Romanian Hotel Industry Federation (FIHR), a federation established 34 years ago to represent the interests of hoteliers in Romania, launches an urgent appeal to the Romanian Government on the devastating impact on the tourism industry that the fiscal measures proposed by the "little train ordinance" will have, without being accompanied by public policies to compensate for the negative impact and develop incoming tourism and support investments in the field.
While countries around us have good results in terms of the share of tourism in their economy (Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, Poland), as a result of public investments in infrastructure and promotion, flexible legislation adapted to new developments - digitalization, online platforms - and the creation of the framework for economic operators in tourism to develop, Romania is at the bottom of this ranking.
Despite all the insistence of the tourism industry and the availability of specialists to all forms of organization that the regulatory authorities in the field have had, tourism is lagging behind in budget distribution, has old and inadequate regulations and does not benefit from optimal support for international promotion, which led, according to the NBR, for 2023, to the tourism trade balance deficit of 3.694 billion euros, an increase compared to 2022.
At the economic level, we are already feeling the decline in consumption, the repercussions of instability through the downgrade of the country rating by Fitch Ratings, in the context where a war is still taking place at Romania's borders, international promotion is limited to small campaigns and participation in fairs and these are in danger of cancellation due to the decrease and lack of budget for 2025. We cannot expect improvements in this area without changes in strategy. Romania's entry into the Schengen area should increase the number of tourists visiting Romania, but, unfortunately, we do not promote ourselves enough and we do not have a system for monitoring tourist circulation, due to the lack of adequate legislation and reporting platforms.
In the context of concerns related to reducing budget expenditures, those areas that have the potential to increase state budget revenues should be considered, and through its strengths, through the complexity of forms of tourism that can be practiced in Romania, tourism can be one of these areas. The current percentage represented by the tourism sector in GDP is below potential, and it cannot grow without investments and without promoting Romania's image abroad, in the context in which surrounding countries invest much larger budgets to promote themselves among the world's tourist destinations.
In this regard, FIHR calls for the urgent adoption of measures in the following categories:
- Allocation of an annual budget for promoting Romania as a tourist destination in the amount of 10% from the amounts saved from the elimination of holiday vouchers (with a significant impact of up to 30% on the market), to replace the domestic tourism deficit created and to attract foreign tourists, thus also leading to a reduction in the trade deficit in the field
- Updating legislation which would allow for the creation of multi-annual budgets, without which every year participation in the beginning of the year events (international fairs or other events are questioned and, often, canceled), as well as Opant no. 65/ 2013, including the classification of apartments and occupational standards
- Digitalization of reporting – creating platforms for data reporting, monitoring tourist traffic, statistics, collecting reports from online platforms, respectively highlighting the contribution to GDP
- Supporting tourism investments – public policies aimed at reducing seasonality, developing spa tourism and eco-tourism
- Creating a National MDG – The National Destination Management Organization and the allocation of an adequate multi-annual budget
- Predictability of fiscal changes, ensuring competitiveness in a regional context and ensuring fair competition conditions – maintaining VAT and tax rates for tourism activities, which have already undergone two successive amendments (2023 and 2024) to increase VAT and profit tax, as well as for competitiveness at regional level; developing and implementing a legislative framework in Romania, which would regulate from a fiscal point of view the short-term rental activities for tourism purposes (short-term rentals) of natural persons / legal entities, with a positive impact on attracting revenue to the national budget and local budgets; transposition of European regulations, for requesting/obtaining reports from online booking platforms, monitoring tourist circulation and economic operators performing economic activities in the field of tourism. This leads to increased compliance and control, increased tax base, payment of VAT, other taxes and duties, tourism promotion tax for reservations taken through platforms
- Supporting projects to attract human resources and increase their skills – Implementing measures to attract and retain employees in the field through education (continuous professional training, updating professional and occupational standards), through tax incentives for economic agents that employ young people, for their vocational/professional training, through the development and recognition of micro-accreditations and online training platforms specific to the hospitality field
In conclusion, in the absence of taking these necessary steps, we can anticipate in the medium and long term the perpetuation of situations that hinder the development of the tourism sector, such as:
- Incorrect and incomplete statistics related to tourist circulation in Romania, which will make it impossible to establish adequate public and budgetary policies, with an optimal and coherent mix of actions to promote tourism in Romania
- The disappearance of investments in regulated tourism organized in hotels, given the fiscal and authorization/reporting pressure currently existing for owners and operators of regulated units
- Maintaining a gray economy, increased risk of incidents and an increased number of "unemployed" young people who earn from the "participatory economy", in the absence of regulation of short-term rental activities for tourist purposes, with effects in the reduced degree of budget revenues and lack of control
- Worsening of the quality of services offered in the hospitality sector, with effects on the reputation of tourist destinations in Romania, in the context of ignoring measures to attract and professionalize active personnel in all units that offer accommodation and public catering services (both hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, and rental apartments)
- Deterioration of tourism infrastructure and waste of the tourism potential of
Romania in the medium and long term
