Comparison between Foreign Tourism in Romania and in Europe

• Author: Boldeanu F. T.
• Position: Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 69-76

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşo v

Series V: Economic Sciences • Vol. 12 (61) No. 1 – 2019

https://doi.org/10.31926/but.es.2019.12.61.1.10

COMPARISON BETWEEN FOREIGN TOURISM IN

ROMANIA AND IN EUROPE

Florin-Teodor BOLDEANU1

Abstract: According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, out of 185

countries, Romania holds the 59th position as regards the relative importance

of this sector to the total contribution to GDP. Europe is the most important

tourist destination in the world, having the greatest number of international

visitors each year and a market share of 51% in 2017. However, Romania is

not adaptable enough to attract foreign citizens, losing the competition with

the countries in the region and continuing to be a transit country.

Keywords: Foreign tourism, Travel & Tourism industry, Europe, Romania.

1. Introduction

The Romanian tourism has seen an improvement in recent years, with more and more

people choosing to allocate a part of their spending on holidays at home or abroad.

However, numbers not always translate into higher earnings for companies operating in

this sector. As the spending for Romanian citizens is conside rably lower because of the

smaller wages, compared to other EU countries, tourist accommodat ions should

concentrate on attracting foreign citizens with greater purchasing power. In this sense,

Romania is lagging substantially behind other countries in Europe. For example, Croatia

attracts more than 90% of its tourists from abroad.

Romania should take advantage of its geographic position (South East E urope), the

historical heritage and me mber status of the EU to attract more foreign tourists. We should

mention that Europe is an important tourist destination for citizens com ing from America,

Asia or other continents. According to t he World Tourism Orga nization (World Tourism

Organization, 2018), Europe was the mo st visited region in the world in 2017 and its market

share is 51% of the total international tourist arrivals (an estimate o f 672 million people

visited this region in 2017). In terms of international tourism receipt s, Europe is yet again

number one, with a market share of 39% in 2017 (a growth of 8% from 2016).

The scope of this paper is to draw a comparison of the situation related to foreign

tourism in Romania and in Europe, highlighting some important goals for the future. The

paper will start with a brief literature review, followed by the methodology and the main

1 Transilvania University of Brasov, boldeanuflorinteodor@yahoo.com