Romanian tourism, in recession for the first time after pandemic. What solutions do operators propose

The figures in the Romanian tourism indicate decreases for the first time after the pandemic, the summer season being well below expectations. The reduction of the value of the holiday vouchers, the increase of the VAT, plus the prudent behavior of the Romanians put their mark on the sector. The ANAT vice -president shows where the rescue could come from.

Tourism on the Romanian coast recorded a decrease this year: the archive

For the first time in recent years, Romanian tourism has decrease, although the signs of the first months of 2025 have been good. Vice -President of the National Association of Travel Agencies in Romania (ANAT), Adrian Voican, points out that “It is already seen that at the level of tourism we are in recession ”.

According to the National Institute of Statistics, the tourist sector registered decreases in the summer season 2025, and this happens for the first time after 2020. The data shows a decrease of -4.2% for June, -4.4% for July and -6.3% for August, compared to June, July and August 2024. “A worrying and critical decrease”. The only good news is that this summer, more foreign tourists visited us than in the summer 2024, the increase being 7.2% for June, 0.6% for July and 7.1% for August.

“According to INS data for the first 8 months of 2025, the tourist sector in Romania underwent a contraction of -2.9% of the arrivals of Romanian tourists compared to the similar period of 2024, while the arrivals of foreign tourists represented an increase of +5%. The nights of the first 8 months are similar, for the Romanian tourists, there have been -2% less nights, while the evolution for foreign tourists is +4.4%. INS data confirms the centralized information by Bibi Touroperator and provides a complete perspective on the whole season, including the last month of the summer. According to them, the summer season 2025 ended with a national decrease, similar to the one indicated by the NIS, compared to the same period of 2024. Even if the first months of the year have increased 10%, we are currently at a critical point, below the level registered last year ”shows another analysis.

The ANAT Vice-President Adrian Voican appreciates that the reduction of the value of the holiday vouchers has made its fingerprint by far. The value not only was reduced from 1,600 lei to 800 lei, but it is possible to complete a statement according to which they are obliged to come with a minimum contribution of 800 lei for tourist services to receive the 800 lei granted by the state many Romanians have simply renounced them. The decrease in the consumption of holiday vouchers is estimated at 66%, although the figures available for the moment indicate a decrease of 20%. In 2025 there were still vouchers from the previous periods, but the true impact will be seen in a few months, I draw attention to the operators in tourism.

To this measure that hit the sector strongly was added the increase of the VAT rate and for tourism, from August 1, at the same time with a manifestation of a prudent behavior from the Romanians who either spent less or even gave up the holiday. One problem remains the fact that many more Romanians spend their vacation abroad, compared to the number of foreign tourists attracted in Romania.

“It is for the first time after the pandemic when we have decreases. That is, tourism is in recession,” said ANAT Vice President. The increase of taxes, in conjunction with the decrease of the value of the holiday vouchers and the decrease of the power of buying the Romanians could soon have a number of unwanted effects. There is a danger that some of the tourist units that have entered the legality with the establishment of the vouchers system (from 6,000 units, the number has increased four times) to return to the black economy, draws Voican attention. Other companies could choose to move their premises to more fiscal-friendly countries, and for those who remain will not be easy at all.

“It's for the first time we certainly see three months of serious drop in a row. We were masked in January and February by some 10-15%increases, as far as I remember. It was a very good ski year. But from there we went to the valley ”, added Voican. Even the cold season will not change the situation, the reservations being 20% ​​under the values ​​of last year.

The tourism industry would like more involvement from the Ministry of Economy, digitization and tourism, it is necessary for the governors to understand the needs of the sector and to no longer interpret the alarm signals drawn as complaints.

“We need OMD. The Romanian state moves like an elephant in a porcelain store”

Whoever leads the Romanian tourism has two missions, believes Adrian Voican: to keep as much money in the country, by attracting investors and convincing Romanian tourists to choose Romanian tourism, and this in the conditions in which the other countries know how to attract the Romanians, and to increase the number of foreign tourists who choose Romania. At this moment, Romanians spend on the holidays abroad more than twice as much as we manage to attract from foreign tourists, Voican said.

In order to increase the incoming tourism, certain measures would be needed, and the premium of incoming and financing the participation in the international tourism fairs would be two of them.

“First of all, we must have an OMD (n. Red. – destination management organization, an entity with legal personality made up of public and private partners who aims to strategic management, development and promotion of tourism, by increasing competitiveness and national tourism). The Romanian state moves like an elephant in a porcelain store. He is cumbersome, he is slow, he does not adapt, he does not make decisions, he has worse and more bureaucratic public procurement procedures than all the countries in the world. (…) You need a much more flexible OMD, with which to decide faster, to do market studies, to understand the market trends. We have market trends for 15 years and since then they are market analyzes. You need a much more lively body with fewer constraints on the decision ”, said Adrian Voican.

At this time in the country there are about 31 such organisms, most local, a few counties and a single regional OMD, but Romania needs such a national representation structure to compete on the international tourism market, said ANAT vice -president.

The functioning of the national OMD would provide predictability, Voican shows. “It is not possible that in December you do not know if you go to the important fairs in January. You do not know because you have no budget. Other countries have ten -year -old budgets, growth objectives set for ten years. For us, every minister comes and stops everything. You can not. Euro for promotion ”, Voican also indicated what measures could help the sector quickly.

Another measure that could bring over time would be the award of bringing tourists to the country, a mechanism that is used in the world of sales with very good results.

Without promotion, for which there are currently no funds, the objective of bringing additional 4 billion euros to the country is impossible to reach, Voican believes. It is necessary to attend all important tourism fairs and there must be a marketing mix, says the ANAT vice president, because the mere presence is not enough. It is necessary for PR, strategy, because what is happening today, when an article appears that brings out a tourist destination in Romania, is almost exclusively the role of chance.

“You have to go to all the fairs and you have to have a marketing mix there. The fact that you go to the fairs is not enough. It is an important step, but it is not enough. Digital, maybe television … maybe in France it is different than in England and Germany, but we have no one to tell us where to give that head on the international PR.Voican also drew.

The strategy of developing Romanian tourism, on the other hand, should not be a bushy document, of hundreds of pages, but have some clear objectives.

“10% of GDP and 10 million foreign tourists. Now we have 2.5 million, we have not reached the pre-pandemic figures of 2.7 million. This is everything. If it is much more complicated than nobody and nobody understands. We would like to be a country project, so a school child should know, Simple, on a page, it makes it a thousand times stronger than 10 strategies written from 5 to 5 years, 400 pages ”concluded Voican.