Romanian tourism organisations to hold news conference

Romanian tourism organisations will be holding a news conference today to discuss three important matters amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the decline in the hospitality industry.

The conference "ReStart Hospitality Industry" will be attended by Daniel Mischie, chairman of the Organisation of Romanian Hotels and Restaurants Employers (HORA); Calin Ile, chairman of the Federation of the Romanian Hotel Industry (FIHR); Nicu Radulescu, chairman of the Romanian Tourism Organization (OPTBR), and Dragos Anastasiu, chairman of the Alliance for Tourism (APT).

Financial analyst Iancu Guda will unveil a case study on the impact on the economy and the financial situation of companies operating in 11 sectors of the HoReCa industry.

"According to the study commissioned by HORA and FIHR, together with the member organisations in APT (Alliance for Tourism), carried out over a period of five years, we want to draw attention to the fact that HORECA's contribution to GDP is about 5.07%," according to the representatives of the hospitality industry.

The conference will also discuss the current status of the industry. Before the COVID-19 crisis, the HORECA industry had: 40,000 companies running on 100% Romanian capital with a turnover of 5 billion euros and approximately 400,000 employees representing 10% of the total number of employees working in the private sector (190,000 employees directly involved and approximately 210,000 employees of suppliers of products, raw materials and services), according to representatives of the hospitality industry.

They emphasise that the tourism industry contributes significantly to the development of companies that design businesses in related fields, such as agriculture, local ingredient suppliers, producers and distributors of raw materials for the kitchen, importers and distributors of food products, services providers dedicated to industry, and management systems, cleaning, transport, logistics, packaging.

But as a result of the crisis due to the pandemic and the restrictive measures imposed by the authorities, the industry is currently the most affected, reporting a sharp decline that today led to a decrease in turnover by about 70% compared with the first six months of 2019. It has determined the suspension of the activity in case of over 40% of the operators.

Another matter to be addressed is a reopening plan. The tourism organisations emphasise that, taking into account the fact that the reopening of outdoor dining on June 1, 2020 has not triggered an increase in the number of infected people, it can be concluded that the complete reopening of restaurants can be done safely where regulations are observed.