An analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of tourists arriving in Romania using the correspondence factor analysis

Abstract

Due to the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to the reluctance of the consumers to travel, tourism is one of the most affected sectors worldwide. Romania was no exception to this truth, as most vacations were canceled, and travel budgets were cut. However, Romanians have not lost their appetite for travel, opting, as will be seen in this study, for holidays in their own country, for destinations as close to home as possible, with the possibility of canceling without a penalty. Those who chose foreign destinations preferred Bulgaria, Greece or Turkey. This paper aims to carry out a dynamic analysis of the number of tourists arriving in Romania in the 2018-2020 period by two distinct categories: Romanian tourists and foreign tourists, and to identify the links between the statistical variables: year and region. Our conclusion was that 2020 was the year of the rediscovery of Romania by Romanians, this pandemic representing a chance to reposition our country among European destinations.

Longitudinal Analysis of Sustainable Tourism Potential of the Black Sea Riparian States Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey

“…The entire tourism sector needs support from all public institutions. Unfortunately, in the Romanian tourism industry there were no coherent measures, the restrictions were relaxed too slowly, and the supply did not keep up with the demand, which prevented the timely entry of tourist packages adapted to the new reality generated by the pandemic to the market [ 88 ]. In Turkey, the tourism sector was recovering and adapting to changes in tourism demand [ 89 ], which proves that it is relatively resilient.…”

A Geographical Perspective on the Impact of Covid-19 on Tourism Demand in Romania

“…Matters related to the effects that COVID-19 pandemic had on tourism sector have naturally been of interest for the Romanian territory as well. While some studies aimed at an analysis of the entire country (Aivaz and Micu, 2021;Cehan and Iațu, 2023;Iftimoaei et al, 2023;Mazilu et al, 2023;Nancu et al, 2023;Popescu, 2021;Popescu et al, 2022) , others focused on particular territories, through case studies on diverse issues related to the changes induced by the pandemic (Boiciuc, 2022;Coroș et al, 2021;Crismariu et al, 2022;Dragomir et al, 2021;M atei et al, 2021;Mitrică et al, 2022;Munteanu et al, 2022;Volkmann et al, 2021).…”

“…These studies analyse the evolution of tourism indicators at NUTS2 administrative level (Aivaz and Micu, 2021) or for different types of territories, and respectively destinations, such as coastal areas, mountain areas, spa resorts (Nancu et al, 2023), both studies emphasizing how the impact of the pandemic has varied considerably across Romania's territories. Iftimoaei et al (2023) go even further into detail, analysing various tourism indicators (tourist arrivals, overnights, accommodation capacity etc.)…”

“…Despite the topic of COVID-19 impact on the tourism sector in Romania having been approached from various perspectives, there are still gaps in the literature and questions to be answered. First of all, very few of the studies conducted for the entire territory of Romania present the topic from a geographical approach (Aivaz and Micu, 2021;Iftimoaei et al, 2023;Nancu et al, 2023), which can underline regional disparities and differences in terms of pandemic's impact between types of territories and destinations. Secondly, more recent assessments of destinations' evolution following the COVID-19 pandemic are needed, considering the fact that the recovery of the tourism sector is still incomplete, and little is known about which (types of) destinations have been successful in their recovery and which are still struggling.…”