Top 10 companies operating by management contract
3.13 The need for organizing comparison compatibility through a statistical basis
activities): fraud, tax evasion, black labor, tips, etc) and “productive illicit activities (illegal) of goods and services (the pro
Economic literature distinguishes between: “legal undeclared activities”: the production of clandestine enterprises, diminished reports of production in official enterprises, wages paid but undeclared or decla
“delinquent acti
If we were to return to the sketch regarding tourism activity presented in annex 1 m
s ountries tipping is forbidden. In others, the “pourboire” is compulsory, written on the menu list. It is obvious that the great speed which makes things move in modern tourism does not allow the state to tax everything and the temptation is so high, that economic agents can not restrain.
Furthermore, according to one of th
or rating such practices.154 Without wanting to under evaluate the volume of subterranean activities concerning base tourism (varying from black labor, commercialization of smuggled goods and tax evasion by non declaration of incomes, etc.) we must underline that great sectors of activity, linked not only to the subterranean economy but also to the mafia, by tradition, are intimately bound to tourism as well. We only enumerate, without a
international tourism events (football games, Olympics, etc.), organized or non organized prostitution, clandestine transport (immigrants, undeclared tourists, etc.), consumption and traffic of drugs, money laundering, etc. We did not mention subterranean activiti
area of tourism, because these are much more refined, and harder to prove. As well as that, at the
“top”, we remember “fiscal paradises”, especially those from the islands. Actually it is very hard to make a comment regarding the difference of top “corporate” actions in business tourism, and the bribe offered trough free foreign trips.
Many times, it becomes a state policy. Thailand was, in the 8th decade, in a very difficult economic situation. A potential exit from the crisis was: agriculture and….sex. Today, the
“Amazing Thailand” program raised tourism to a top engine of the economy. Still the Orient makes us mention the example of electronic goods or gold and gems to prices below their production costs. On the other hand, in fragile economies, even the developed ones, subterranean tourism activities are a gauge which can avoid a social explosion, by offering means of survival.
Actually, many of today’s wealthy are bragging about starting to work very young…..washing dishes, carrying briefcases, etc…
And, as a final argument: in almost all countries, control organisms begin and end their activity in tourism units!
We cannot, due to lack of statistics and studies, to evaluate the value of the subterranean tourism. We believe we do not mistake when we say it is at over 50% of the volume. Anyway, it can not be ignored.
3.13 The need for organizing comparison compatibility through a statistical basis
u, N. - Economia subterană şi disfuncţionalităţi generate în constituirea şi consumarea veniturilor factorului public – Ph.D. thesis Universitatea “Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu – February 2003
153 National Account System
154 Egbert, Henrich: Trader Tourism in the transformation process - Observations on Bulgaria between 1992 and 1996, in Stierle, Michael. Ed. Economics of Transformation, Berlin: Verlag fur Wissenschaft and Forschung:
152 after Crai
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Perhaps the most subtile action of globalization in tourism is the immense lobby it makes for itself. We mentioned the issue of statistics and how clean they can be. The lacking of definitions of notions such as tourist, visitor, visit, may lead to completely different results and the altering of results and conclusions.
Whereas today the entire world proclaims, with tourism giants as leaders, that it has overcome the income of the petrol industry and that it’s the world’s leading economic branch. As long as the world believes this, tourism can only gain from this faith: people – which had or have
, mining, manufacturing and building which have an array of activities which e mo
hich programs which are proposed in the field, mentioning basically the manipulation” discretion trough apparently irrefutable evidence, which can determine wrong This situation is not new for those in the field. Numerous international reunions are meant
TSA (Tourism Satellite Accounting) . They introduce a global conception on tourism activity
allocated their economies for holidays, and those who can, will invest in the tourism activity. The myth is kept and amplified. How are things in reality? Entirely different.
Even from the beginning of our analysis we are confronted with a major problem, which raises exigencies and restrictions from the perspective of globalization: the statistical system, or better said, the analysis system155 of the phenomenon in Romanian tourism.
First of all, international statistics regarding tourism is scarce and still pending at best.
There are two major problems: the contents of the terms and their definition. The WTO created the
“International Classification of Tourism activities”, which has 5 major areas of activity:
agriculture, fishing
w stly consider independent. Additionally, in order to be more explicit, international statistics has a list of specific tourism products, a list of activities which are characteristic to tourism and a list of specific products of tourism reported to the consumption of the visitor. We can imagine difficulties which operators from less developed areas have in making reports. With direct repercussions on data accuracy. Different tourism organizations organized their own systems to satisfy their needs. Furthermore, we can observe that under the name tourism, there are a lot of activities included. We realize now, by studying official WTO documents, how heterogeneous the sector really is, and how unstable, how easily maneuverable. And this is not new stuff: the first tourism association was founded in Jina, near Sibiu, had the hidden purpose to avoid customs tax on salt, which tourists were derogated from. Whereas, even today, through the web of the official statistics system, grey or black tourism is sneaking easily. Maneuvering such notions requires and adequate technique, a special training. Those who are formed in special schools possess it, and they become the autocrats of global decisions, trough the monopoly on knowledge which they possess. Whereas, a country such as Romania, which basically has no practice specialist, nor a theory specialist in these “subtleties”, which can be able to bring statistical data to a form which is close to reality, has no possibility for realist analysis, nor the verification of studies and especially the realism on w
“
decisions.
to guide statistical labor, and conclusions. In the last few years, we notice the more direct involvement of political factors in global decisions. Crans Montana and other places have become periodical locations for meetings of top management, but protests as well. As for tourism, silence still rules: those involved are few and discreet. Mass tourism goes on constantly because of those who had been given the chance to practice it. And, still discretely, redistribute incomes and use spare time lucratively.
Still, even technocrats require real data. The WTO, along with the WTTC and the Oxford Economic Forecasting began and elaborated the so called SSR (Satellite Statistical Report) on the
156
155 we prefer the term tourism „phenomenon“ to that of tourism „activity“, due to implications of tourism, which are actually global, throughout the entire economic, social and political life of a country.
156 There is an equivalent in Romanian which translated “satellite” as satellite, forgetting that the word may also mean a subsidiary, or a utility which depends, or serves, or belongs, or is auxiliary to something. In Romanian, we also have expressions such as “a satellite neighborhood of the city”, but the meaning is not quoted by DEX. So, for accuracy, we used SSR and TSA.
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starting from the statistical system employed by the UN, certified by situations found in the field.
Annex 15 reveals the aggregate and Annex 14 defines the main indicators. One starts from the need of consensus between industries characteristic to tourism in order to know which is their
pact
, access is difficult, due to costs. Actually, a comparison between the and
king
im on other industries, especially in estimating tourism results, as well as establishing methods to calculate the indirect effects on numerous other industries. The WTO and the OCDE adopted the TSA in 2000.
Romania adhered to international conventions regarding international tourism statistics.
State organisms acquire statistical data and send them to international organisms. But the transition period, with its inherent setbacks in organization does not allow for a sufficient accuracy of the statistical information: they grey or black area which eludes cartography is often very wide.
Moreover, even collected data has errors: many of those who work in tourism come from other fields of activity and have as purpose immediate gaining, without a vision of time and availability for durable work. Furthermore, the statistical system before 1989 was different from the actual one. Political command imposed it’s power: for example: in the old system, data regarding international tourism was considered secret and the accent fell on terms offered to workers, and today data is abundant in revealing the privatization process, whereas nothing exists in order to reveal conditions regarding the remaking of the labor force, etc. So, the researcher or businessman can not use official data efficiently. Furthermore, statistical data before 1989 were transferred to the National Archives, while the National Statistics Institute publishes a reduced array of indicators.157 For researchers
7th the 9th decade illustrates the precise failure of the organization of the free market in Romania concerning tourism, considered and presented as a “chance” for Romania; or perhaps just for“transition”!?
Complementary sources of analysis. The involvement of their lac
in our country, which can be sed for verifying decisions. There are several programs developing in developed countries trough
tourism. Even access to such information is limited because people simply do So far, there are no studies of independent organizations158
u
an array of structures for the analysis of several domains or tourism areas. These studies allow for the verification of official statistics but also prevention on a certain phenomenon. Still, a series of studies have been created by foreigners, but most of them remain locked for the large mass of people practicing
not know of its existence. In Sibiu, there have been 19 studies in the last few years159, concerning rural tourism by external financing or structures. From the statistical point of view, we do not know how many households are used in this activity; neither do we know financial results, both official and an estimated value for those undeclared. No to mention that we do not have, even now, an inventory of all the addresses.
Another “fault”, hopefully “transitory”, is the relative secrecy and political manipulation. In the last 10 years, for example, numbers regarding privatization were not made available or they varied so much from one statement to another that they can not be used by those who need it. As we will show on the analysis of the lodging basis, even official statistics are far off the reality of the field. And statements regarding the tourism reality are a thing which is included in the media show. At the same time we notice an offensive of different external circles which verify or create tourism databases regarding Romania, as we can observe from the accuracy of different auctioned programs, etc. Henrich Egbert of Germany had a communitarian funding for 2 years to study trader tourism on the Turkish border. Statistics made in collaboration with Poland reveal the number of cars, tourists, guides, passage frequency, etc. From the Romanian Border
157 Issues periodic bulletins, whose consulting is free, but any copy costs around 2 euros.
158 This is one of the cases for which Romania does not exist for western researchers, so, not for politicians, because this research has a top secret status, used to their interest.
159 To our knowledge, direct participants
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Police, such data (detailed, not aggregate!) are impossible to obtain. The Transporters Association ordered no studies regarding the involvements of the cancellation of the Schengen visa, where we
w of an agency, the attractiveness of a rochure or logo applied to a napkin or the design of the toilet paper, or perhaps it can be treated ccording to opposite or irreconcilable criteria, such as the quality of food products, from the erspective of the legislation of the country of destination and the country of origin for the tourists.
ooking closely at Annex 1, on every position we can observe the vastness of the legislation (and ot only) regarding tourism services. But also concurrent positions in which we must always lace ourselves: tourist, supplier, and social beneficiary. Moreover, we must add the quality of
e political, social and legislative acts, which must govern tourism activity, the “environment” in hich it takes place, whose quality derives not only from the volume of tourism activities, but its uality as well. Any mistake in quality is dearly punished by the client.
We pause here with the “classical” issues of quality, which are also the competence of the ducational system for tourism or control personnel. A new concept occurred, a concept which cludes those mentioned above but which also includes the new position of tourism, its new way f being, and its new quality, obtained throughout the years: quality of life, competitive values of urism activity and leisure.161 The term quality of life regarding tourism and leisure can hardly be und in the literature.162 Another close concept is that of durable development, where life
could have had an official statistic of the auto tourism, both grey and black. These new methods, used in market economy, are too few known and far from finding financing and organization here.
Probably such data is available for special services, including the holiday capacity or houses built as secondary residences, but in practice such data is missing; how to base a decision about catering or a realistic insurance rate?
We may conclude that in order to face globalization criteria we must be able to use international statistics as well as being able to develop specialized databases which can allow for a decision to be taken ex ante. At the same time, the technique of using new international statistics models must be analyzed, such as the SSR or the TSA, which call for larger attention in comparing data from before and after the 9th decade, which are published.