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Romanian tour operators seek partnership with Gov't to save the travel industry
The Romanian travel agencies are calling for the government's intervention for identifying viable solutions in the short and medium term for the relaunch of the tourism industry and for making possible the holidays desired by Romanians, reads a letter sent to premier Ludovic Orban by several tour operators.
"Romanian tour operators need support in order to deal with these vicissitudes, both in the interest of the Romanian citizens we serve and in order to ensure the survival of Romanian operators over foreign competitors. Romanian travel agencies are forced to seek the state's intervention for the identification of viable solutions in the short and medium term, for relaunching the tourist activity and ensuring the holidays the Romanians desire," states the document signed by the 'Trip Advisors' Tourism Workers Association, Romania's National Association of Travel Agencies (ANAT), BJR Holidays, Christian Tour, Holiday Office, Travel Brands and TUI TravelCenter.
The tour operators argue that with the onset of the Covid-19 epidemic and the establishment of health safety measures, the tourism activities have almost come to a halt, and the Romanian citizens who bought tourist packages found themselves unable to go on the booked stays. Under these circumstances, the Romanian tour operators have continued to work, also remotely, to keep the customers informed about the developments and to allow them to reschedule their stays and get other benefits in compensation.
"For this reason, practically from March 2020, the industry of travel agencies no longer produces any income, but unlike in other sectors, the workload is much higher than in a normal period. This state of affairs produces a chain of negative effects on customers, tourists and the over 10,000 employees of travel agencies. The Romanian tour operators must get support in order to deal with these vicissitudes, both in the interest of the Romanian citizens we serve and in order to ensure the survival of the Romanian operators in front of the competitors from other countries," reads the letter sent to Prime Minister Ludovic Orban.
The signatories of the document show that the lack of a minimum predictability and the current uncertain context compel the tourism businesses to take drastic measures, which they actually do not want and which have significant effects on both the end customer and employees and ultimately on the Romanians' possibility to enjoy the holidays when the difficult time of the epidemic is over.
They also argue that the devastating effects of the crisis on the tourism industry also ripple along the entire chain of suppliers that depend on the tourism activity, such as air operators, land transport operators or the entire HORECA industry.
"In conclusion, the signatories of this letter express their full openness to striking a partnership of hope with the Government of Romania, whereby the latter provides the necessary support for the tourism sector and, in turn, the beneficiaries of this support signal the government's openness and understanding for the needs of citizens who have booked or want to book tourist packages," the cited document reads.