Burcea, Paralela 45: There are no measures to reboot seaside tourism

Alin Burcea, one of the best-known Romanian owners with operations on the tourism market, who controls travel agency Paralela 45, says demand for holidays in Romanian seaside resorts is dwindling, so the company's development will be based on selling travel packages for resorts on the Turkish and Bulgarian seaside.

"There are no measures aimed at rebooting tourism on the Romanian seaside, even after a year and a half of activity of the Ministry of Tourism and Regional Development. We have to make do on our own," said Alin Burcea, who also controls Residence seaside hotel and Stil hotel in Bucharest. According to him, the number of tourists accommodated in Romanian seaside hotels will fall by up to 15% this year, from last year's 1 million tourists, which compared with 7 million tourists on the Turkish seaside. Although the Romanian seaside has got wide beaches with fine sand, it attracts a much lower number of tourists compared with Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria.

"We approached Minister Elena Udrea with a series of measures meant to promote the Romanian seaside, but we were told the same thing over and over again: there is no money," Alin Burcea says.