According to the latest figures, tourism in Romania has a minimal contribution to the GDP, while jobs in this sector are regarded as a 'last resort' career option due to the low salaries. Although, in terms of growth rate, the domestic market is at the top of the ranking (which includes 176 countries), in terms of value, Romania is positioned towards the bottom of the ranking of tourism-derived revenues.
Last year, travel agencies, hotels and restaurants were among the businesses with the lowest salaries. In the hotel and restaurant industry, the average monthly salary stood at 195 euros (in comparison to the national average of 313 euros a month), which made it the worst paid sector in the economy.
In the case of travel agencies, the average salary stood at 445 euros a month, far below other sectors such as air transport, the tobacco industry and the petroleum industry. However, the growth rates were among the highest - 31% on the segment of travel agencies, and 27% for the hotel and restaurant sector.
Although the number of employees in tourism is expected to reach 304,000 this year, almost 10,000 more than in 2007, i.e. around 3.5% of the entire national workforce, a job in the hospitality industry is considered a 'last resort' because of the low salaries.
According to a study compiled by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), low incomes lead to good managers being lost, who choose to work abroad instead.
The growth rate of revenues derived from tourism places Romania at the top of the ranking that features 176 countries, a rate that reached 8.1% this year.
However, direct revenues collected in the travel industry are forecast at 3.6 billion dollars (2.2 billion euros) this year, which would account for around 2.2% of the GDP and places Romania among the lowest ranking countries in terms of the share of travel revenues in
