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Tourism : Hospitality industry is worth 3bn euro, with over 50,000 staff shortage
The value of the hospitality industry in Romania amounts to 3 billion euro, but the staff shortage in the field exceeds the figure of 50,000 people, Dragos Petrescu, President of the Romanian Hotels and Restaurant Employers Organization (HORA), said on Wednesday in a conference dedicated to the hospitality industry.
"The data from 2017 shows a turnover of over 13 billion lei in the hospitality industry, by 15pct higher than in 2016. In 2017 there were 36,000 restaurants, bars, coffee shops nationwide, out of which 6,000 in Bucharest. As many as 300,000 people were employed in the industry, and we include related services as well. As forecasts, the staff deficit in the hospitality industry exceeded 50,000 people. We have clients in front of the restaurants, but there is no one to serve them," Petrescu said.
According to the HORA head, Romania needs a clean and regulated hospitality industry, given that people are increasingly experiencing "going out to the restaurant".
"HORA is based on four principles: the first is that we have to be profitable to exist, the second is that we have to emphasize and value the Romanian tradition and the Romanian gastronomic culture, to have the ability to innovate, to reinvent in a market that it is becoming more and more demanding, to have the ability to transform and adapt to the increasingly difficult but good conditions. The number of clients willing to spend money has grown in Romania. This 5pct VAT transforms us from VAT payers into VAT debtors, and it is a colossal advantage that we have to keep," said HORA president.
HORA Romania is organizing the third edition of the National Conference of the Hospitality Industry on Wednesday.