No sky-high increase in Romanian tourism in 2009

“Players on the Bucharest five-star market are talking about 10-25 percent drops in the occupancy rate and a reduction of accommodation tariffs. Romania is a business destination on the five-star segment, and 90 percent of clients on this segment are foreigners, fully exposed to the international crisis,” said Mircea Draghici, Project Manager of the CB Richard Ellis Eurisko Hotels Department.

In this context, players on the local hotel market are adopting a series of strategies which will allow them to maintain their estimated margins. “We are not planning to cut tariffs drastically, but rather to find the balance between market demand and the revenues we are expecting,” said Friedrich Niemann, General Manager of Athenee Palace Hilton.

Companies operating the largest four and five-star hotels in Bucharest posted over €140 million in total business in 2007, up from the €123.2 mln registered in 2006.