The average occupancy rate of hotels in Romania was only 28 percent at the beginning of 2013, down from 35 percent in 2008, while accommodation prices decreased 15 percent and profitability went down by more than 19 percent, shows a recent survey conducted by the Romanian Hotel Industry Federation.

The number of hotels in Romania increased from slightly more than 1,100 units in 2008 to 1,400 units this year, while the number of hostels also went up from 46 to 178 units.

In early-2013, out of the 1,400 hotels in Romania, 28 were five star hotels, up from just 16 in 2008, 233 were four star, more than 660 were three star units and almost 400 were two star hotels.

The accommodation capacity also increased between 2008 and 2012, from 294,210 places to over 301,100.

“Although the accommodation capacity is higher, two very important indicators have decreased, namely tourists’ spending in Romania and the days of accommodation per tourist. As a result, the hotels’ revenues decreased by over 9 percent in the last five years, while expenditures rose by more than 5 percent,” reads the study, quoted by Mediafax.

In 2008, the total number of tourists in Romania amounted to over 7.1 million. Of this total, 1.4 million were foreign tourists.

After five years of economic crisis, the total number of tourists slightly increased to 7.7 million, of which 1.6 million were foreigners.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com