The train ordinance gives hoteliers chills


The Federation of the Hotel Industry in Romania (FIHR) launches an urgent call to the Government of Romania regarding the ‘devastating’ impact on the tourism industry that the fiscal measures proposed by the ‘trenulet ordinance’ will have, without being accompanied by public compensation policies the negative impact and development of incoming tourism and support of investments in the field.

“While countries around us have good results in terms of the share of tourism in their economy (Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, Poland), as a result of public investments in infrastructure and promotion, flexible legislation adapted to new developments – digitization, online platforms – and the creation of the framework for the economic operators in tourism to develop, Romania is at the bottom of this ranking. Despite all the insistence of the tourism industry and the provision by specialists to all the forms of organization that the regulatory authorities in the field have had, tourism is stuck in the division of the budget, has old and inadequate regulations and does not benefit from optimal support for international promotion, which led, according to the BNR, for the year 2023, to the deficit of the trade balance in tourism to be 3.694 billion euros, increasing compared to 2022′, FIHR representatives signal in an open letter addressed to the Government of Romania.

They emphasize that, at the economic level, the decrease in consumption is already being felt, the repercussions of instability through the lowering of the country’s rating by Fitch Ratings, in the context where a war is still taking place on Romania’s borders, international promotion is limited to small campaigns and participation in fairs and these in danger of cancellation due to the reduction and lack of the budget for the year 2025.

‘We cannot expect improvements in this area without changes in strategy. Romania’s entry into the Schengen area should increase the number of tourists visiting Romania, but, unfortunately, we do not promote ourselves enough and we do not have a system for monitoring tourist traffic, due to the lack of adequate legislation and reporting platforms. In the context of concerns related to the reduction of budget expenditures, those areas that have the potential to lead to an increase in revenues to the state budget should be taken into account, and through its strengths, through the complexity of forms of tourism that can be practiced in Romania, tourism may be one of these fields. The current percentage represented by the tourism sector in GDP is below its potential, and it cannot grow without investments and without promoting Romania’s image abroad, in the context in which the surrounding countries invest much larger budgets for their promotion among the world’s tourist destinations’, they claim hoteliers.

In this sense, FIHR requests the urgent adoption of measures such as the allocation of an annual budget for the promotion of Romania as a tourist destination in the amount of 10% of the sums saved from the elimination of holiday vouchers (with a significant impact of up to 30% of the market) , in order to replace the domestic tourism deficit created and to attract foreign tourists, thus also leading to a decrease in the commercial deficit in the field, the updating of the legislation that allows the realization of budgets multi-annual, without which every year the participation in the events at the beginning of the year (international fairs or other events are questioned and, often, cancelled), as well as OPANT no. 65/ 2013, including the classification of apartments and occupational standards and digitization of reporting – creating platforms for data reporting, monitoring tourist traffic, statistics, collecting reports from online platforms, respectively highlighting the contribution to GDP.

Other measures requested by the representatives of the hotel industry aim to support investments in tourism – public policies aimed at reducing seasonality, the development of spa tourism and eco-tourism, the creation of a National OMD – National Destination Management Organization and the allocation of an appropriate multi-annual budget, as well as the predictability of changes fiscal, ensuring competitiveness in a regional context and ensuring the conditions of fair competition – maintaining VAT and tax rates for tourism activities, which have already passed through two successive amendments (2023 and 2024) to increase VAT and profit tax, as well as for competitiveness at the regional level, the development and implementation of a legislative framework in Romania, which would regulate from a fiscal point of view short-term rental activities in tourist purpose (short-term rentals) of natural / legal persons, with a positive impact on attracting income to the national and local budgets, the transposition of European regulations, for requesting/obtaining reporting from online booking platforms, monitoring tourist traffic and economic operators performing economic activities in the field of tourism.

“This leads to increased compliance and control, increased tax base, payment of VAT, other taxes and fees, tourist promotion fee for bookings taken through platforms,” ​​the Open Letter states.

At the same time, hoteliers demand the support of projects regarding the attraction of human resources and the increase of their skills, the implementation of measures to attract and maintain employees in the field through education (continuous professional training, updating of professional and occupational standards), through tax facilities for economic agents that hire young people, for their vocational/professional training, through the development and recognition of micro-credentials and online training platforms specific to the field of hospitality

In conclusion, in the absence of taking these necessary steps, we can anticipate in the medium and long term the perpetuation of some situations that slow down the development of the tourism sector, such as: Incorrect and incomplete statistics related to tourist traffic in Romania, which will make it impossible to establish public and budgetary policies adequate, with an optimal and coherent mix of actions to promote tourism in Romania; Disappearance of investments in regulated tourism organized in hotels, given the fiscal and authorization/reporting pressure currently existing for owners and operators of regulated establishments; Maintaining a gray economy, increased risk of incidents and an increased number of ‘unemployed’ young people who earn from the ‘participatory economy’, in the conditions of the lack of regulation of short-term rental activities for tourist purposes, with effects in the reduced degree of budget receipts and in lack of control; The deterioration of the quality of services offered in the field of hospitality, with effects on the reputation of tourist destinations in Romania, in the context of ignoring the measures to attract and professionalize the active staff in all units that offer accommodation and public catering services (both hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, and apartments for rent); The deterioration of the tourist infrastructure and the wasting of Romania’s tourism potential in the medium and long term’, FIHR representatives signal.

Source: www.cotidianul.ro