Events industry brings half a billion euros in Romania every year

Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) bring directly about EUR 500 million annually to Romania, a value that is still small if compared to Western countries, even if it’s steadily increasing, according to Traian Badulescu, tourism consultant, quoted by Agerpres.

“MICE is one of the main engines of tourism development and an important generator of income, employment and foreign investment. The UK wins EUR 50 billion annually and Germany EUR 65 billion. In 1998 Romania was making about USD 30 million a year from the events industry, in 2008 about EUR 50 million and in 2013 it reached about EUR 250 million,” said Traian Badulescu.

According to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) statistical report for 2017, out of the 70 events, most of the events in Romania took place in Bucharest (39 of the 70), the capital being ranked 33th in the top cities of Europe organizing events after cities like Barcelona (195), Paris (190), Vienna (190), Berlin (185), London (177), Madrid (153), Prague (151), Lisbon (149), Warsaw (89) , Helsinki (86), Athens (76), Milan (69), Porto (68), Zurich (57), Belgrade (51), Cracovia (44) , Gothenburg (41) and Florence (40).

“In recent years, Romania has become more and more known as a MICE destination in Europe, with much of the hotel turnover (over 50 percent) being made on the MICE segment. The emergence of new international brand hotels favored this growth (Hilton Garden Inn in Bucharest, Mercure Unirii hotel / Bucharest, Hampton by Hilton / Iasi, Double Tree by Hilton / Ploiesti). At the moment there are hotels such as Courtyard and Moxy in Bucharest, Grand Hotel du Boulevard in Bucharest, with a planned opening at the end of 2019, respectively Radisson Blu hotel in Brasov,” Lucian Boronea, vice president of the National Association of Agencies of Tourism (ANAT), told Agerpres.

He estimates that outside the capital, on the MICE segment, other developed cities are Cluj-Napoca (according to the statistics of 2017, it ranked 145th in Europe with 8 international events organized), Iasi (not yet on the map of MICE destinations, but has a significant increase in recent years), Oradea (high potential as a result of modernization of infrastructure in recent years with European funds).

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Romania ranks 23rd in Central and Eastern Europe, with 70 events taking place every year. As comparison in Austria were 281, 187 in Czech Republic, 159 in Hungary, and 71 in Serbia, while in Bulgaria were only 34. However, the difference is the total number of participants, which is much lower than the neighboring European countries in the top because of the lack of high-capacity conference facilities.

“In order to reach the top MICE destination, Romania needs to remove a series of minuses such as the lack of multi-functional conference centers of high capacity that can accommodate large-scale international events (3,000-4,000 people), the lack of Long Courier direct flights (for Bucharest and especially for the other cities that would have adequate accommodation for hosting international events), the lack of promotion of Romania as a MICE destination,” said Boronea.

ANAT vice-president adds the accommodation capacity (even at Bucharest level, but especially in the big cities of the country – Brasov, Cluj, Sibiu, Iasi, Timisoara) below the demand level (at present, the occupancy rate of hotels is 80-90 percent almost in all seasons), and the low-season and high-season are increasingly insignificant.

“Romania has an asset to use. In a country with an air traffic of 20.28 million passengers in 2017, 16.4 million passengers in 2016 and 13.32 million passengers in 2015, we have 16 international airports, so a very high density , spread all over the country. If we are referring to the total of airports, not just international and civil, Romania ranks 88th in the world, with 54 airports out of a total of 235 countries having airliner tracks,” said Badulescu.

The airport infrastructure of Romania is also very developed. 63 percent of last year’s traffic was generated by Henri Coanda International Airport in Otopeni, with 12.8 million passengers, up 16.8 percent compared to 2016, a historic record for the main Romanian airport. Second is Avram Iancu International Airport in Cluj-Napoca with a traffic of 2.68 million passengers, up 43 percent from 2016.

According to Badulescu, Romania has a very high tourist potential and if the leisure part has begun to develop over the last years on the MICE side, the evolution is constant and older and the infrastructure has been prepared for a long time. The main city with event infrastructure is Bucharest, but it follows other major cities – Cluj, Sibiu, Timisoara, Constanta, Oradea, Iasi, Brasov.

Also, Romania has many facilities for conferences and tourist areas such as the Black Sea Coast, where hotels are open throughout the year, spa resorts such as Baile Felix or Baile Herculane, mountain resorts such as Sinaia, Predeal and Poiana Brasov. Romania is one of the European countries with developed rural tourism, and areas such as Bran-Moieciu, Neamt, Marginimea Sibiului, Oltenia under the mountains, Maramures or Bucovina are excellent hosts for small or medium meetings or team building.

“Romania can be a successful MICE destination only that the components that make it worthless: marketing and destination management are lacking. The external target markets could be German European countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), but also France, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland). Also, the Central and Eastern European countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria), Israel, Russia, China, Japan, Thailand, USA and Canada,” said Badulescu.

Romania is an ideal destination that can combine business and events with leisure tourism. According to a Carlson Wagonlit Travel study, there has been a positive attitude towards the mix of business and leisure travel in recent years. It was found that 83 percent of respondents use their time after work to explore the city they are visiting, and nearly half of them (46 percent) add days dedicated to the leisure of their business trip. In addition, 96 percent think that “bleisure” trips (a combination of business and leisure) help them acquire cultural knowledge, evaluate the most popular tourist activities, local gastronomy, art and various cultures.

Traian Bădulescu points out that Bucharest in particular and Romania are generally among the top European destinations where business and holiday combine.

“Because Romania is already known as a business destination, travelers who come to an important business or who come for a two-day conference will surely be attracted by the historical buildings of Bucharest or the landscapes of Transfagarasan, Brasov, Maramures or the Seaside Black Sea,” says the tourism consultant.

Tourism specialists appreciate that Romania is connected to the international MICE market, both by membership of international organizations and by the local presence of many international structures.