Paul Marasoiu, head of the National Association of Professional Conference and Exhibition Organisers (RCB), says the meeting and business tourism holds a 60% share of the revenues derived on the domestic tourism market. Business travel accounts for 80% of the revenues of the hotels and conference organisers in Bucharest. "The revenue obtained for a person who takes part in an event, amounts to 240 euros per day. It is a proportion of 1 to 5 against the leisure tourism," states Marasoiu.
"The MICE Industry (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions), namely the associative or corporate events, which gather up to 5,000 people as well as the specialised services and promotion, is the most profitable part of tourism, both in Romania and worldwide," adds Marasoiu.
The revenues derived from business travel come from the activities directly related to event planning, travel arrangements, hotel services, the services dedicated to the event, as well as the services related to it (food & beverage, multimedia equipment, translators, data management, event promotion).
"The US market is the main beneficiary of such type of events. Between 9 and 14 major events need locations to be developed, but, due to the lack of such locations in Romania, Bucharest is not an option for them," states Marasoiu. Romania has a capacity of 95,554 seats for business meetings this year, the most important of them being available in Bucharest, 37% of the total (35,281 seats), Constanta county 10% and Brasov county 6.8%.
According to Marasoiu, Cluj, Sibiu, Iasi and Ramnicu Valcea have a great potential for development on the business travel segment. There are already some projects for building centres for exhibitions and conferences in Ramnicu Valcea, Sibiu and Iasi, operated by RCB in collaboration with the city halls and the local councils from the respective areas.
