Mircea Titus Dobre, Romania’s new tourism minister, plans to develop and promote the religious tourism in Romania, he said during hearings in the Parliament's specialized committees on Wednesday.

“I believe that nobody took care of promoting the monasteries and churches, such as the ones in the Bucovina region,” he said, according to local News.ro.

According to Dobre, tourism’s contribution to Romania's GDP could go up to 4%, from less than 1% at the moment.

Tourism is an important part of the Social Democratic Party's governing program, which is why the new Government will have a tourism minister. The National Tourism Authority (ANT), the state institution in charge of this sector, will be dissolved, and its 140 employees will be taken over by the new Tourism Ministry.

The new minister said that the holiday vouchers for employees will be introduced in the first half of 2017. These vouchers, which will have a special fiscal treatment, similar to the food and gift vouchers, should help boost the local tourism sector.

Mircea Titus Dobre is a 38-year old economist from Constanta. He is a member of PSD Constanta, and worked for his family’s bakery and pastry business, Dobre & Fiii (Dobre & Sons) before being elected deputy in 2012.

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