The conference of the project PlanCoast – Spatial planning in Coastal Zones

1. The conference of the projectPlanCoast – Spatial planning in Coastal Zones Europa Hotel - Eforie Nord, Romania 31 May – 2 June 2007

2. Coastal tourism – essential component of Romanian tourism Janos TALPAS, General Director Cristi FRENŢ, Tourism researcher National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

3. Part I Strategic issues in the development of coastal tourism in Romania National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

4. Introduction • The coastal area is a major tourist destination for Romania • It has a strategic position from the geopolitical point of view (between Europeand Asia) • Favorable natural conditions (sea water, beaches, marine bio-climate) • Long tradition in tourism: alongside the old resorts such as Mamaia, Mangalia and Eforie Sud, few decades ago there have been developed new resorts, most of them having names drawn upon ancient mythology – Olimp and Neptun, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn • Coastal tourism is one of the main products with market opportunities (according with the Master plan for tourism development in Romania, draft version, May 2007) National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

5. Why coastal tourism? (1) • There is still a foreign tourism market for this type of product (Scandinavia, Germany, Russia – the research commissioned by National Tourism Authority from Romania in March 2006 proved this) • There is a tradition of Romanians to go to the seaside • The increase of week-end tourism • Easy access: • Bucharest – Constanţa motorway (the existing functional part Bucharest – Cernavodă 150 km) • Constanţa Airport : starting with this year the new stipulated air flights: Iaşi – Constanţa, Timişoara – Constanţa, Cluj – Constanţa • Railway Bucharest – Constanţa – Mangalia National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

6. Why coastal tourism? (2) • Possibility to combine the coastal tourism with cultural and religious tourism from Dobrogea region • Proximity of Danube Delta (possibility to have cruises in Danube Delta) • Concentration of accommodation facilities on the coastal zone (over 42% of existing bed places in 2006) • Beaches certified by Blue-Flag program (Mamaia, Eforie Nord, Neptun, Venus, Saturn) • Public investment (e.g. Mamaia) and private (up-grading and construction of accommodation facilities) in the last few years • The increase of demand for residential buildings in the coastal area (residential tourism) National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

7. Constraints • Strong competition from Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and even Croatia • Short season (2-3 months) • Very low access by sea (the lack of some connections with ferryboats on the sea) • Few leisure facilities excepting sun-bath (the lack of a real entertainment centres in tourism resorts) • In long term, the process of coastal erosion • Migration of labour force abroad and low quality of human resources • The lack of cooperation between different stakeholders on tourism at resort level • The increasing demand of Romanians for holidays abroad National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

8. Perspectives • Creation of Tourist Information Offices in all resorts • Development of leisure facilities to provide the extension of tourist season • Creation of Public-Private Partnerships at resort level • Tourist promotion (marketing) of coastal areas integrated with Dobrogea region • Inclusion of the tourism policies within the framework of the integrate management of coastal areas National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

9. Part II Statistics on costal tourism National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

10. Preliminary findings • The incomes of the Hotels and Restaurants sector from the seaside represented 7,3% from the incomes of this sector in Romania (Source: INCDT study, March 2006) • Over 42% of the existing accommodation capacity (at 31 July) is located in seaside resorts • The weight of tourist flows in the seaside reported to Romania is much lower (13% for arrivals and 21% for overnight stays) • We have a decrease of tourist flows in the seaside in the last years both in terms of arrivals (-9.1%) and overnight stays (-13.6%) – 2006 referring on 2004 National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

11. Romania vs. Bulgaria – Comparative analysis of coastal tourism (1) Coastal tourism in figures in 2006 • the Bulgarian coast has an accommodation capacity with 30% higher than the Romanian one • the average number of open days of accommodation establishments is only 85 in Romania compared with 160 in Bulgaria • the foreign tourists are modestly represented in Romania (10,3%) compared with Bulgaria (70,6%) – Bulgaria has 14 times more foreign tourists on the coastal resorts than Romania!!! • the volume of overnight stays is almost three times less than in Bulgarian seaside resorts Source: for România, National Institute of Statistics, Frecventarea structurilor de primire turistică cu functiuni de cazare în anul 2006; for Bulgaria, National Statistical Institute (www.nsi.bg); processed data * - data for Constanţa county ** - data for Varna and Burgas districts National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

12. Romania vs. Bulgaria – Comparative analysis of coastal tourism (2) • The concentration of the accommodation capacity on the coastal area is much stronger in Bulgaria than it is in Romania • The same about tourists flows: • The Romanian coastal area “collect” only 13% of the arrivals of tourists and over 20% of the overnight stays in Romania, while Bulgaria registers figures three times higher. • And the foreign tourists have a low weight in total foreign tourists of Romania (6%) compared with 57% for Bulgaria The weight of coastal tourism in Romania in 2006 Source: for România, National Institute of Statistics, Frecventarea structurilor de primire turistică cu functiuni de cazare în anul 2006; for Bulgaria, National Statistical Institute (www.nsi.bg); processed data * - data for Constanţa county ** - data for Varna and Burgas districts National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

13. Mamaia vs. Albena • This comparison is given by a sort of similar accommodation capacities, but also by an excessive media presentation • Mamaia – the biggest seaside resort in Romania (almost 23 thousandsbed-places) • Albena – the third seaside resort of Bulgaria in terms of accommodation capacity after Slancev Briag – Sunny Beach (47.399 bed-places) and Zlatni Piasatsi - Golden Sands (38.386 bed-places) • paradoxically, Mamaia has tourist flows superior to Albena • nevertheless, Mamaia has three times less foreign tourists than Albena has • Mamaia is focused on domestic tourism while Albena is a foreign tourists oriented resort Source: for Romania, Constanţa County Statistical Division; for Bulgaria,dataare provided upon our request from Bulgarian National Statistical Institute; processed data National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

14. Conclusions • Romania could have an advantage comparing to Bulgaria taking into account that it has not a “concentrated tourism” in the coastal area • The seaside product has to be different from the one of competing countries by combining the component of cultural tourism with the one of tourism in Danube Delta • We suggest that Romania should have a sustainable development of coastal tourism, according with the principles of integrated management of coastal areas • We believe the coastal tourism will continue to be one of the major tourism products of Romania National Institute of Research Development in Tourism

15. Thank you! National Institute of Research Development in Tourism