The transport system: incoming, outgoing, domestic

- Com

- Material basis and the activity of associations, clubs, circles and other informal organization which take part in tourism activity: Salvamont, Salvamar, tourism clubs, etc.

Add elements which are the result of individual initiative to all this, as the result of a new legal framework, which will play a dynamic part, of completion and pressure in the tourism activity.

We believe that one can now make a clear separation, due to the complexity of the tourism activity, and that for now one an take into account only the solution of adopting several principles which would be the basis for the reconstruction of Romanian tourism and by which the activity of issuing tourism rules can be made.”190

It would appear that our appreciation was correct. The domain was to large for the new politicians and many of the elements of the material base have been lost along the way, leaving just eventual subjects for parliament interpretations.

“Romania’s tourism opportunity” was and still is just an unknown slogan which is not really supported by any means. It was a fake. At the time when Romania will build its own tourist destination – such as Thailand, The United Arab Emirates, South Africa, etc. – one can branch and all the effects which derive from such ctivities in the political, social plans, etc. until then the political will for such an action needs to be built. Meanwhile, especially air transport companies and global hotel chains entered Romania.

But, as we shall see, their main target is business tourism and congresses (especially political).

5.4 General tourism infrastructure from the perspective of world competition

We shall tackle a few elements of the general tourism infrastructure which we believe to be essential for the accession of Romanian tourism in the spectrum of global tourism.

“Compulsory invisible infrastructure” of which we mention only two elements here:

- The capacity of the economy to generate income for a sufficient number of people in order to include them in mass tourism. Otherwise, 80% of potential tourists (internal tourism) are lost. When we mention the assurance of income which is sufficient for tourism, we do not refer to the exceptional cases or the weekend periods, rather the entire tourist “basket” of a global type (similar to developed countries). We do not argument any further the perspectives of this idea, it is included in the concept of general development. The impact of a loss of 80% of tourists on an economy is obvious.

- The existence of the social pact, either implicit or explicit regarding the existence, within the life standard, of the holiday as a whole: rejuvenation, treatment, business, etc. On the contrary, we are falling into “trader tourism”, or grey or illegal areas, even if the nature of the ordinary Romanian makes him give up perhaps essential elements of life in order to travel. But, in this case, the “travel” is not tourism: hospitality and leisure, only tolerance from inhabitants of the destination for the so called tourists.

- The legislative system is essential for the good functioning of international tourism. One can not explain the hesitation and delay with which the Tourism Ministry adopted actual legislation, although the initiative of actors on the tourist market was timely and insistent. Even if there is legislation, even incomplete and lacking, its following is still just a desire, as is the collection of taxes for the state budget. Unfortunately, it is precisely the rush for budgetary income which cancelled a protective and flexible legislation, in accordance to the one in competing destinations and country of origin of the tourists.

5.4.1 The transport system: incoming, outgoing, domestic

mercial units and providers of services destined for the population, as they participate to the tourism activity

speak of tourism like an industry or an economic a

190 Ilie Rotariu – Pentru reconstrucţia turismului românesc – speech at the tourism chiefs meeting; Ministry of Tourism – Hotel Parc Bucureşti, January 1990

149

150

Statistics differ according to producer and period. We can still use them for our purpose.

Where do foreign tourists come from?

Source: Romania’s Statistics Yearbook 2001

From here we can already see the structure of used transport means. Short roads by car or train are the most frequent (43%). The car or bus serve European tourists very well, as for the ones from Bulgaria, the Ukraine or Moldova, the car or train are the most used.

In statistics presented lower we can observe the preponderance of railroad transportation, considered more accessible for the large mass of users and we may deduce by tourists as well, in lack of evidence or an independent worthy study, at least before 1980. Roads were under-developed, so that transport for medium and long distances was made by train. The wagon array and traction means ensured a good average speed and a normal comfort for the respective period. Still, for international tourism, arrivals on the railroad are rare, except for trains leaving the RDG and RSC, many in transit towards Bulgaria. For internal tourism, even after the development of the car array and the roads, railroad transportation was the main means of transport and due to the selling system, meaning cheap train tickets, bound by resting tickets. The increase of the auto transportation coincides with the opening of national car factories. Dacia and Oltcit factories managed to create a hard core for the individual automobile transport. The ACR developed ITIA in 1968 (The Enterprise of International Automobile Transport) which took over car tourism, by entering in contractual relations with European clubs. The formulas used were very brave for that time: lodging coupons, technical assistance, fly and drive, car rentals, charter spaces in hotels, etc. actually, it is the only enterprise which was not taken over by ONT Carpati until of late; as an exception, BTT, surviving even today. In 1985, we lost the Danube Rally stage, due to lack of payment and lack of representation. Even today, we did nothing to change that.

After 1990, the entering of transnational corporations was slow and local producers lost external markets as well. For the automotive tourism, the infrastructure is not ready even today – as it should be. The appalling¹⁹¹ state of our roads, international, national and county roads excluded Romania from international tourism circuits. Only in the last few years, improvements became increased, but shy. In the infrastructure of automotive tourism one must include alimentation spaces as well, non stop services, including for Saturdays and Sundays, communication system in cases of emergency, safe parking, the signaling system, etc. The delaying of including Dacia in the global system as well as accepting some strange terms in the Daewoo affair transformed Romania in a junkyard for used cars. Rental societies, especially the global ones, have laid the foundation for new arrays of cars, but still small, due to a low number of solicitors. But reduced parks do not offer, in practice, the replacing of the car in a country; the non stop program does not function; as

191 One can object that in Africa or Asia roads are even worse. We must compare this to a normal situation 2000

European Union 8%

Other European countries

39%

neighboring countries

43%

outside Europe 10%

is the problem in Otopeni, the issue here being the turning over of the car. Local purchasing power car for the internal market (the warranty being anywhere between 400 – 1000 EURO). After 1970, the import of Iran National buses solved the international transport by coach. The park reaches 952 bus and small buses in 1976, with a transport capacity of 28205 people, meaning 9.5 million in inventory, and 5.5 million in active places, ergo a CUC (capacity occupation coefficient) of 58%, and a PMZ¹⁹² of 96 km¹⁹³, which transported 4.000.000 tourists of which 1.700.000 international traffic. Circuits concerning the western market manage to maintain several years after the fall of the seaside. After 1977, the usage of Romanian produced buses is forced, which are no good due to lack of comfort and a poor resistance to road quality (especially the air suspension and diesel engine, slow and noisy). We strayed even further from western norms which implied a toilet to be used, air conditioning, a bar, increased comfort. The same situation applies after 1989, a lot of times the transport by coach being dedicated to external trips exclusively or as a support for international transport lines, towards Germany, Greece and Turkey, and, for the moment, Spain, Portugal and Italy, bound by work contracts in the latter countries. Now we have surplus of small buses, but not those destined to tourism on medium distances (In Romania, the average PMZ for circuits within the country made tourists is between 250 – 300 km), and the parks of transport societies can not take on the risk of service or replacing a defective coach on the road. The EURO 3 norms will not only limit the exits of Romanian cars within the European area but risk of transforming the country into a pole of pollution, very hard to overcome in the actual western conception. Still, most arrivals are by car, partly – without a solid argument due to lack of statistical data – because of the structure of foreign tourists. Varant, a Turkish company of liners, remains the main transnational company

nsi is higher, raising concerns and issues at the border. Air n Ceausescu was “the good guy”¹⁹⁴, trough Anti-Moscow rivals in Romanian tourism were booming, perhaps as a ward of the chosen position. Most arrivals by air were made by Romanian charter planes.

During the Middle East war of 1968, in order to overcome the boycott of Arabian countries towards companies which flew to Israel, the LAR was created, which was extremely profitable for several years. After 1990, the tourist aviation transport in an organized fashion basically

isappears, although the air transport maintains at relatively high quotas because it is based mainly epartures), journalists, visits to relatives and official delegations.

till, traffic is modest as compared to that on airports in Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.

made by small aircraft, both foreign and local, became more numerous.

he Constanta airport is basically lost for tourism transport, while new airports begin to grow, lthough modest: Timisoara, Cluj, and Sibiu. Fluvial transport for tourists consisted of the ternational traffic in the Danube Delta between 1975 – 1980. An ambitious program. The source:

omania’s yearbook 1980, issued by the Tourism Ministry in the last few years, but more portantly, private investments lead to the existence of the first tourist ships on the Danube and e Delta, where Simpa Tourism – Nouvelle Frontierre made several important investments. The roblem of the Danube on Serbian territory will mark tourism ever since it began, and western ompanies seem more active. Even ground services are still lacking due to trends of

onopolization. Maritime tourist transport is inexistent for now, due to lack of ships. Only achting exists, and slightly develops. There have also been halts for international cruise ships, but is premature to make any prognoses. The Constanta area has a low tourist offer, even for one

did not allow for the development of

rent-a-which transits our territory. Tra t transport know its peak at the time whe

easures which he undertook, when ar

The liberalization of air transport as a result of OMC accords brought Tarom into even bigger difficulties. Foreign companies took over most of the flow from and towards Romania, most of the west of the country traveling with Malev. A few private companies had brief spells, especially on the liner segment. Travels

day, below the level of other cruise ships halts.

192 daily average distance covered

193 the international distance average is confirmed once more 194 “the good guy”

151

Passenger transport by various transport means

If we are to report these numbers to the number of tourists which arrived, we will notice

hat m o ntr wes only

transp as for the internal tran as well, during that time, and still functioning today, but with a ive decrease.

0 200000 400000 600000 800000 1000000 1200000 1400000 1600000

Total 76197 79232 128496 272026 288013 434612 690494 1184799 1333864 1380806 Railroad 71709 74709 116551 251690 214823 262093 328328 366881 354537 350811 Auto 3723 4175 11294 19257 71757 170149 359388 814215 975835 1026476 Fluvial 709 319 563 951 1159 1910 1913 2306 1879 1611

Maritime 44 5 49 1 76 89 16 0 0 0

Aerial 12 24 39 127 198 371 849 1397 1613 1908

1938 1948 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1978 1979

Source: RSR Statistic Yearbook, 1980

Traveling (millions of passengers - km)

Source: RSR Statistic Yearbook, 1980

t ost f them came from cou ies in the t, where Tarom was basically the

orter, sport

mass

Romania’s international tourism by means of transportation: arrivals, departures - thousands

152

0

1993 1994 95 1996 1997 98 2000

departures 10757 10105 5737 5748 6243 6893 6274 6388

auto 9036 8057 4288 4202 4664 5308 4999 5018

railroad 1435 1673 985 1065 996 976 654 687

aerial 176 193 299 324 405 448 489 535

naval 110 182 165 157 178 161 132 148

19 19 1999

Source: Romania’s Statistic Yearbook, 2001

Note: between the two systems, the one before 1989, and the one after 1990, there can be no comparison. If we managed to recalculate the series, we will mention it.

In both arrivals and departures we can notice the predominance of car transportation, distances being thus towards central and western Europe, as well as Turkey and Greece. In arrivals, we have relatively stable tendencies, the air transport shows a slight rejuvenation, especially since 1995 when foreign companies introduced two flights and the night spending of the plane in Otopeni.

The increase is balanced by a decrease on railroad transportation. Regarding Romanian tourists departing west-bound, after the “exodus to the west”, following the Revolution, the traffic stabilizes. We also notice an increase of departures by plane especially due to (empiric observation) emigration and visiting the relatives. We must underline that the entire border passage is included in these statistics, not just tourists.

The evolution of tourist arrivals in Romania

Year Tourist arrivals -Thousands- Dynamics % Annual rhythm on average 5 year periods 1966

*Annual growth rhythm for the last 4 years; ** one year rhythm

• Source: MT Statistics; WTO Statistics: CNS, Romania’s yearbook, 1998; CNS, Statistic information no. 4/1999, after Rodica Minciu - Economia Turismului

This series reveals one again the dynamics of border arrivals. But this is not the same with foreign tourists being housed in hotels.

The comparative evolution of arrivals of foreign tourists at border crossings and of those registered in housing spaces.

153

Years Tourist arrivals Source: calculated after CNS, Romania’s yearbook, 1998; CNS, Statistic information no. 4/1999, after Rodica Minciu

we have already revealed. The ction and the remake of relations with such ll not become international, rather remain between national here the Romanian tourist is left astray after he passed the border (bound to the social contract and the respect of the state towards the contributors!). Whereas private operators, even with economic power, will not be able to exist globally without integrating themselves in the structure. The compulsory path is trough a national structure, then individually, according to interests. So, international transport can bring money, but from the local population, forced by problems within the country but also the need for labor force in Western Europe to travel, legally or not. We must reveal that all elements of globalization are present in the automotive transport. Of the powerful European lines, Touring is the one which

- Economia Turismului

Differences are big and they indicate, possibly: a high transit theoretically made possible by shifting car transportation after the war in Yugoslavia, visiting relatives, small border traffic (although it is highlighted separately at border crossings) or housing in other spaces than hotels.

Between 1980 and 1989 we have a real flow of tourists from the USSR, usually wives of troops stationed in the RPB and RPU, for whom we have no data, given the fact that soviet citizens were excluded from border control.

As we revealed already, without a fast and secure transport system, entry in the global sphere of tourism is uncertain. We have major issues on various branches:

- In aviation, a small number of airports, the existence of only one medium airport (Otopeni, Bucharest). The lack of landing equipment for high capacity planes for transcontinental flights lets us exposed to major aerial companies which can thus receive such aircraft. The only solution is

“trans-border tourism” by connecting the 4-5 small and medium airports to global areas: Munich, Frankfurt and Vienna. It is clear that international tourism will mean costly investments for the assurance of security, including for local flights, which will make up for automotive transportation and railroads. The hardest problem is border permeability in the context that Romania took it upon itself to remain the “watchman” of Europe. Whereas all tourist destinations, especially the recent ones, are perfectly free. In Singapore, for example, the notion of visa is unknown and border control is extremely fast. But this means huge amounts of money in parallel control systems.

Perhaps even harder to achieve than the processing speed is the atmosphere at the border, the kindness and “welcome” at the contact point. We are still a country in development and we can not afford the mannerisms like at the borders of the US or western countries, where the receiving is rough, yet polite and very efficient, from staff to serving travelers. The tight ladder on the arrival at Otopeni, gives you the feeling of entering an unknown world, possibly hostile, not the amount of freedom and safety at the tourists’ home.

Automobile transport: Romanians’ automotive transport

-arrival of foreign tourists (mass tourism) is excluded as long as the infrastructure remains the same. On the contrary, in developed countries, like Holland (ANWB) automotive associations lead

o real financial empires in tourism. Without the conne t

structures the future of car tourism wi

borders. This is valid for departures as well, w

154

entered Romania by organizing local societies (Touring, Eurolines, etc) but also the usage of Romanian companies’ trough the system of bookings towards areas of Europe where they can not reach or the unofficial establishment of quotas, distributions on license lines, etc. Romanian transporters which came to be, some very strong, can not enter the global category until their clients are almost exclusively Romanians.

In a separate manner one must discuss tourist group transportation: either of small capacity (buses), either of large capacity (coaches). We have the legislation. But also a large grey and illegal area. The suspensions of the visas lead to the reorientation of major proportions in international transport. But international transport lines, without the connection to the booking systems, will become provider for powerful western lines. Internal tourist transport, for the foreigners, has two major weak-points: prohibitive price, the quality and insecurity of services: not only can a flat tire compromise the entire circuit, but also the safety and intensity of the traffic on a sub-dimensional infrastructure…

We come back to the idea that in slang “to kill the km”, means to shorten the time spent in the bus. Any improvisation we can conjure up has but one solution: the highway: the crossing of Slovenia from north to south only takes 4 hours and 30 minutes with two 30 minute breaks. The same from Bucharest to Constanta or from Bucharest to Sibiu. Some signs are seen, but the effort is ours alone and we must plan the means trough which the loans will be paid.

tem:

information, ticket release, etc. Whereas the political will can make something in due time: the market will “regulate” this sector, after which there will be no need for it, Romania disappearing from tourist destinations, in the meanwhile.

- Rejuvenation is noticeable in water transports: from rafting to pontoons in the Danube Delta.

- Rejuvenation is noticeable in water transports: from rafting to pontoons in the Danube Delta.

Im Dokument Globalization and Tourism: Study case Romania (Seite 150-174)