{"id":118735,"date":"2020-03-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/tourism-employer-associations-request-special-government-measures-to-support-the-industry\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T17:24:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T15:24:21","slug":"tourism-employer-associations-request-special-government-measures-to-support-the-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/tourism-employer-associations-request-special-government-measures-to-support-the-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourism Employer Associations Request Special Government Measures to Support the Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"
All tourism employer associations, a sector heavily affected by the coronavirus epidemic, have requested a series of support measures from the Government in a letter, including exemption from salary taxes for the next 3 months, deferring the payment of taxes for tourism operators related to the first half of 2020 for a period of 6 months, without penalties and interest, immediate payment of state debts to tourism operators (contributions for medical leave to be recovered by the employer, VAT to be recovered, as well as the payment of service invoices that various state institutions owe to tourism operators), and ensuring an emergency fund to finance the lending of tourism operators by supporting interest from the state budget.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The employer associations state that the current moment is one of the most difficult the industry has ever faced, with the negative impact generated by the coronavirus epidemic affecting tourism more seriously and much faster than other disruptive events in the last 30 years.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“The effects felt by tourism are already present in Romania, with hotel occupancy rates dropping dramatically in the first days of March, and revenues literally collapsing (drops of 40% in Bucharest and over 50% in resorts or secondary cities). Restaurants are also recording decreases of at least 30% in turnover in the first eight days of March, and for travel agencies <\/div>\n
the situation is even more complicated, as the negative impact here is brought by both the lack of incoming and the massive decrease in outgoing travel,” the letter from the employer associations to the Government states.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“According to our primary analyses, resulting from consultations with members of the employer organizations we represent, about 20% of the 400,000 tourism employees will lose their jobs if this situation lasts more than a month. We are not even talking about other financial blockages that will affect industries complementary to tourism, suppliers, transporters, etc.,” the message to the Executive further states.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
To cope with the effects of the crisis generated by the coronavirus, the employer associations are asking the Government for a series of measures:<\/div>\n
– Exemption from salary taxes for the next 3 months (March, April, May), with the possibility of extension to 6 months if the crisis continues;<\/div>\n
– Deferral of tax payments for tourism operators related to the first half of 2020 for a period of 6 months, without penalties and interest (both local taxes – building tax, and general taxes – VAT or specific tax). This is a form of zero-interest lending for the tourism industry.<\/div>\n
– Immediate payment of state debts to tourism operators – payment of contributions for medical leave to be recovered by the employer, VAT to be recovered, as well as the payment of service invoices that various state institutions owe to tourism operators.<\/div>\n
– Ensuring an emergency fund to finance the lending of tourism operators by supporting interest from the state budget.<\/div>\n

Source: Profit<\/a><\/p>\n

Frequently Asked Questions<\/h3>\n

What are the main measures requested by the tourism industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The industry is asking for salary tax exemptions, deferral of H1 2020 taxes for six months, immediate reimbursement of state debts (VAT and medical leave), and interest-subsidized emergency loans.<\/p>\n

How has the coronavirus epidemic impacted Romanian hotels and restaurants?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In early March, hotel revenues dropped by 40% in Bucharest and over 50% in other areas, while restaurants saw a minimum 30% decrease in turnover.<\/p>\n

What is the risk for employees in the tourism sector?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Employer associations estimate that approximately 20% of the 400,000 tourism employees (around 80,000 people) could lose their jobs if the crisis persists for more than a month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All tourism employer associations, a sector heavily affected by the coronavirus epidemic, have requested a series of support measures from the Government in a letter, including exemption from salary taxes for the next 3 months, deferring the payment of taxes for tourism operators related to the first half of 2020 for a period of 6…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":68512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2859],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-118735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stirea-editiei-en"],"article_style_override":"off","post-style":"style1","post_via":"","post-top-image":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/topstory.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118735"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=118735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}