A few weeks of good weather and a higher number of tourists have balanced the revenues of the Romanian seaside: almost 120 million euros in August alone. This is what the figures of the Romanian tour operators look like. Four times higher than the June figure, adding up to only 30 millions. The total number of tourists in August on the seaside was of 800,000 tourists.

“It was to be expected, it always happens in August. The requests for the weekend exceeded by far the offer. There were days when not even a single accommodation place was available. In a way, this balanced the slow start of the season”, explains Traian Badulescu, a tourism consultant. The big surprise came from the southern part of the seaside, where the number of tourists was 20% higher than the previous years. The explanation is simple: investments of millions of euros were made in hotels.

“Although the weather was very moody and the start of the season was highly impacted, and the May and June sales were below what we had estimated, we managed to have a significant increase in this difficult season, exceeding in the first seven months of this year the total sales of 2013. And this happens after we basically doubled our sales in 2013 as compared to 2012“, according to Adrian Voican, the general manager of Bibi Touring.

Mamaia, the most wanted resort

According to Voican, Mamaia is at the very top of the resorts, with 55% of the sales, followed by Eforie Nord, with 11%, Jupiter – 7% and Neptun and Venus for the rest. Also, this year has seen a big increase of requests for four-star all-inclusive hotels. Also, the early bookings were 30% of the total sales in the first seven months, compared to 13% in 2012.

This increase is obvious throughout the seaside, with the exception of Olimp, which has seen a 15% decline in requests, compared to 2013, according to tourism companies. The average value of a stay was in July and August of 800 RON for Mamaia , 523 RON for Eforie Nord, 412 RON for Neptun, 506 RON for Saturn and 840 RON for Mangalia.

It was less expensive in Costinesti (363 RON) and Eforie Sud (335 RON) and these amounts are, at least in theory, affordable for most Romanians, at least once a year. Nevertheless, the number of tourists has consistently increased in Bulgaria, even if they have experienced some trouble this year.

“Unfortunately, in Romania the taxes paid by hotel owners are higher than in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian hotels pay a 20% VAT, including meal services, at reception, or 10% if the tourist package is acquired from tour operators. We have a 24% VAT for meals, and a 9% VAT for accommodation and breakfast”, Traian Badulescu explained.

A higher price due to utilities

In Romania you also have the issue of utilities’ prices. “The Bulgarians reduced in 2013 the price of electricity by 10%, while in Romania the price has gone up by 10%“, said Nicolae Bucovala, the president of the Mamaia Owners Association and one of the investors in the Romanian seaside. Concerning VAT, he stated that “all associations in Romania asked the government for extending the reduced VAT to accommodations including meals and to tourism agencies.“

The National Association of Tourism Agencies (ANAT) , The Federation of Tourism Companies in Romania (FPTR) and the Seaside- Danube Delta Association (ALDD) have recently launched a program called “Seaside for all”, in order to support Romanian tourists. It will be carried on between the 1st and the 28th of September. And the price per package starts from 205 lei, in a one star hotel, without breakfast and can go up to 1,000 lei in a five star all-inclusive hotel.

So far, 26 hotels have become part of the program, from all seaside resorts: eight two-star hotels, 12 three-star hotels, six four star hotels. The packages will be sold by more than 30 tourism agencies throughout the country. If the weather stays good, the tour operators are thinking of around 10, 000 tourists benefiting from this program.

20%

is the increase in the number of tourists for the Southern part of the seaside, compared to the same period in 2013.

 

120 million Euros

is the amount approximated by tour operators for their revenues in August, way above the figures of June and July.