Tourism Industry in Romania - Efforts for Development and Performance

Abstract

The tourism industry is nowadays one of the best developed industries worldwide and brings annual profits at the level of billions of dollars. It creates new jobs, determines the country's economic growth and supports the infrastructure development. Tourism industry in Romania is expected to increase by up to 4.3% in the next 5 years. Romania offers a wide range of products, starting with cultural tours in the major historical places and ending with the holidays on the Black Sea border. The agencies and the connected companies set up these last years are well aware that they can become major employers in the services sector in Romania, creating jobs for thousands of Romanians. Achieving a high performance in this sector is conditioned by the multiple efforts to be undertaken expected by the - internal and international - consumers of services, in terms of service quality, transport infrastructure and the behaviour of the tourism businessmen. This paper intends to highlight a series of characteristics of the management of the business environment components (companies, public institutions, nongovernmental organisations) involved in the development of the tourism industry in Romania. It includes a punctual approach of the efforts made to promote and develop the Romanian tourism, of the desire to improve the country's overall image abroad by creating tourist centres and of the responsibilities of the stakeholders involved to increase the performance of this sector within the economy.