Bucharest’s municipality will collect a special tax representing 1% of the price tourists pay for accommodation in the city and use the money to promote Romania’s capital abroad as a city break destination.

Bucharest’s General Council (CGMB) voted on Wednesday the introduction of this special tax, which will come into force in 2017. The tax will be collected by the accommodation units within the city, according to the project voted by CGMB.

Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea said that the tax isn't a novelty. What’s new is how the money will be used.  She explained that the Bucharest’s six districts collected a similar tax in previous years, the sums amounting to about EUR 1 million per year. However, the money hasn’t been used for promoting the city.

The municipality now wants to use the money to convince tourists who visit the city to stay more and introduce Bucharest on the list of EU’s city break destinations. Part of the investments will be directed to marketing and the city’s online promotion. The City Hall will also organize tourism fairs, take part in international tourism fairs, and create joint promotion campaigns with airlines and travel agencies.

Bucharest ranks 8th in Europe for the average annual growth in the number of international tourists visiting the city between 2009 and 2016 with a 7.1% increase, according to the Global Destinations Cities Index 2016 survey released by MasterCard in September this year. However, Bucharest is last in terms of money spent by foreign tourists in the city. Some 1.05 million international visitors were expected in Bucharest this year and their total expenses were estimated at some USD 310 million. Meanwhile, the foreign tourists who visit Sofia were expected to spend USD 440 million in 2016, according to the same study.

In June this year, the UK newspaper The Telegraph ran an article on why “your next city break should be Bucharest.” Among the reasons for visiting Bucharest were: drinking is incredibly cheap, the city has a “pleasing mismatch of architecture”, it has “one of the world’s coolest bookshops”, and the famous restaurant “Caru cu Bere”.

editor@romania-insider.com