The conference of the project PlanCoast Spatial planning in Coastal Zones

1
The conference of the projectPlanCoast Spatial
planning in Coastal Zones

• Europa Hotel - Eforie Nord, Romania
• 31 May 2 June 2007

2

• Coastal tourism essential component of Romanian
  tourism

Janos TALPAS, General Director
Cristi FRENT, Tourism researcher
3

• Part I
• Strategic issues in the development of coastal
  tourism in Romania

4
Introduction

• The coastal area is a major tourist destination
  for Romania
• It has a strategic position from the geopolitical
  point of view (between Europe and Asia)
• Favorable natural conditions (sea water, beaches,
  marine bio-climate)
• Long tradition in tourism alongside the old
  resorts such as Mamaia, Mangalia and Eforie Sud,
  few decades ago there have been developed new
  resorts, most of them having names drawn upon
  ancient mythology Olimp and Neptun, Jupiter,
  Venus, Saturn
• Coastal tourism is one of the main products with
  market opportunities (according with the Master
  plan for tourism development in Romania, draft
  version, May 2007)

5
Why coastal tourism? (1)

• There is still a foreign tourism market for this
  type of product (Scandinavia, Germany, Russia
  the research commissioned by National Tourism
  Authority from Romania in March 2006 proved this)
• There is a tradition of Romanians to go to the
  seaside
• The increase of week-end tourism
• Easy access
• Bucharest Constanta motorway (the existing
  functional part Bucharest Cernavoda 150 km)
• Constanta Airport starting with this year the
  new stipulated air flights Iasi Constanta,
  Timisoara Constanta, Cluj Constanta
• Railway Bucharest Constanta Mangalia

6
Why coastal tourism? (2)

• Possibility to combine the coastal tourism with
  cultural and religious tourism from Dobrogea
  region
• Proximity of Danube Delta (possibility to have
  cruises in Danube Delta)
• Concentration of accommodation facilities on the
  coastal zone (over 42 of existing bed places in
  2006)
• Beaches certified by Blue-Flag program (Mamaia,
  Eforie Nord, Neptun, Venus, Saturn)
• Public investment (e.g. Mamaia) and private
  (up-grading and construction of accommodation
  facilities) in the last few years
• The increase of demand for residential buildings
  in the coastal area (residential tourism)

7
Constraints

• Strong competition from Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey
  and even Croatia
• Short season (2-3 months)
• Very low access by sea (the lack of some
  connections with ferryboats on the sea)
• Few leisure facilities excepting sun-bath (the
  lack of a real entertainment centres in tourism
  resorts)
• In long term, the process of coastal erosion
• Migration of labour force abroad and low quality
  of human resources
• The lack of cooperation between different
  stakeholders on tourism at resort level
• The increasing demand of Romanians for holidays
  abroad

8
Perspectives

• Creation of Tourist Information Offices in all
  resorts
• Development of leisure facilities to provide the
  extension of tourist season
• Creation of Public-Private Partnerships at resort
  level
• Tourist promotion (marketing) of coastal areas
  integrated with Dobrogea region
• Inclusion of the tourism policies within the
  framework of the integrate management of coastal
  areas

9

• Part II
• Statistics on costal tourism

10
Preliminary findings

• The incomes of the Hotels and Restaurants sector
  from the seaside represented 7,3 from the
  incomes of this sector in Romania (Source INCDT
  study, March 2006)
• Over 42 of the existing accommodation capacity
  (at 31 July) is located in seaside resorts
• The weight of tourist flows in the seaside
  reported to Romania is much lower (13 for
  arrivals and 21 for overnight stays)
• We have a decrease of tourist flows in the
  seaside in the last years both in terms of
  arrivals (-9.1) and overnight stays (-13.6)
  2006 referring on 2004

11
Romania vs. Bulgaria Comparative analysis of
coastal tourism (1)
Coastal tourism in figures in 2006

• the Bulgarian coast has an accommodation
  capacity with 30 higher than the Romanian one
• the average number of open days of accommodation
  establishments is only 85 in Romania compared
  with 160 in Bulgaria
• the foreign tourists are modestly represented in
  Romania (10,3) compared with Bulgaria (70,6)
  Bulgaria has 14 times more foreign tourists on
  the coastal resorts than Romania!!!
• the volume of overnight stays is almost three
  times less than in Bulgarian seaside resorts

Source for România, National Institute of
Statistics, Frecventarea structurilor de primire
turistica cu functiuni de cazare în anul 2006
for Bulgaria, National Statistical Institute
(www.nsi.bg) processed data
- data for Constanta county - data for Varna
and Burgas districts
12
Romania vs. Bulgaria Comparative analysis of
coastal tourism (2)

• The concentration of the accommodation capacity
  on the coastal area is much stronger in Bulgaria
  than it is in Romania
• The same about tourists flows
• The Romanian coastal area collect only 13 of
  the arrivals of tourists and over 20 of the
  overnight stays in Romania, while Bulgaria
  registers figures three times higher.
• And the foreign tourists have a low weight in
  total foreign tourists of Romania (6) compared
  with 57 for Bulgaria

The weight of coastal tourism in Romania in 2006
Source for România, National Institute of
Statistics, Frecventarea structurilor de primire
turistica cu functiuni de cazare în anul 2006
for Bulgaria, National Statistical Institute
(www.nsi.bg) processed data
- data for Constanta county - data for Varna
and Burgas districts
13
Mamaia vs. Albena

• This comparison is given by a sort of similar
  accommodation capacities, but also by an
  excessive media presentation
• Mamaia the biggest seaside resort in Romania
  (almost 23 thousands bed-places)
• Albena the third seaside resort of Bulgaria in
  terms of accommodation capacity after Slancev
  Briag Sunny Beach (47.399 bed-places) and
  Zlatni Piasatsi - Golden Sands (38.386 bed-places)

• paradoxically, Mamaia has tourist flows superior
  to Albena
• nevertheless, Mamaia has three times less
  foreign tourists than Albena has
• Mamaia is focused on domestic tourism while
  Albena is a foreign tourists oriented resort

Source for Romania, Constanta County Statistical
Division for Bulgaria, data are provided upon
our request from Bulgarian National Statistical
Institute processed data
14
Conclusions

• Romania could have an advantage comparing to
  Bulgaria taking into account that it has not a
  concentrated tourism in the coastal area
• The seaside product has to be different from the
  one of competing countries by combining the
  component of cultural tourism with the one of
  tourism in Danube Delta
• We suggest that Romania should have a sustainable
  development of coastal tourism, according with
  the principles of integrated management of
  coastal areas
• We believe the coastal tourism will continue to
  be one of the major tourism products of Romania

15

• Thank you!