Economic consultant Andrei Caramitru has published a detailed analysis of the structural problems facing tourism in Romania, a sector marked by a drop in demand and many empty accommodation units. According to him, the difficulties are not only caused by the general economic context, but by four main factors that have blocked the development of the market: the negative impact of holiday vouchers, the poor quality of investors, the inability to organize at local level and the weak role of public authorities.
According to the analysis, modern tourism operates in a hyper-competitive global environment, where booking platforms and low-cost airlines offer a vast range of options. In this context, success depends on offering a complete and quality experience, as well as specialization on specific niches (families, sports, city-break, etc.), which are underdeveloped in the local market. Caramitru argues that holiday vouchers have artificially created a category of medium and low level accommodation establishments, which have benefited from a state-guaranteed demand. This mechanism led to price increases without adequate investment in quality of service. As the scheme was reduced, demand collapsed as customers were unwilling to pay out of their own funds for services considered poor.
A second problem identified is the quality of investors in the sector. Caramitru points out that tourism is a complex business, requiring expertise and professional management. Without this, many projects fail, citing a rule in international tourism that often only the third owner of an accommodation unit is able to achieve profitability. This is compounded by the inability of local operators to join forces and develop joint projects. In contrast to successful models, such as those in Austria, where communities jointly develop infrastructure, individualism prevails in Romania, which makes it difficult to attract funds, including European funds, for integrated projects.
Finally, the analysis harshly criticizes the role of local authorities, which are accused of lack of vision, corruption and self-interest at the expense of coherent tourism development. Poor infrastructure and mismanagement contribute to the degradation of tourist destinations. Caramitru’s proposed solutions for the sector’s recovery include the creation of tourism cooperatives with professional management, attracting large international operators and hotel chains through concessions, and organizing large-scale events to generate large flows of visitors. Without these systemic changes, he believes Romania will not be able to compete on the global market and will continue to lose even domestic tourists.