The Influence of Economic and Financial Crisis on Tourism Services in Romania

The paper presents a comparison between some indicators (number of arrivals in the main establishments of tourists reception with functions of tourists accommodation, number of stays overnight, indices of net use of tourists accommodation bed-places, arrivals of foreign visitors in Romania, departures of Romanian visitors abroad, by used means of transport) registered in 2006 and 2010 and in the first months of 2011. We all know that year 2008 represents for Romania the end of a cycle of economic growth started in 2000, but also the year that began economic and financial crisis. What we aim at in this paper is emphasizing evolution of the intern tourist traffic, in recession period compared to the period before. We mention that the statistical data included in this paper are processed according to the Monthly Statistical Bulletins and Press Releases from 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 published by the romanian National Statistics Institute. Tourism, in interdependence with the other economic branches and sectors, must represent in Romania, as well, a priority sector. For this to happen, we have to know and understand the place and role of tourism in the national economy, to establish clear directions to valorize the national tourist potential, taking into account the tendencies and mutations on the international level, especially on the European one, in the field of choices for traveling and free time, manifested both by the local population and by foreigners. In this sense, a decisive role must be held by the State by the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism, which has the role of coordinating the development of tourism and of controlling its activities, as well as the national tourism organizations) by a good collaboration with the international tourism organizations and with regional multi-fields organizations that also include the tourism sector.