The leader of the PSD (Social Democratic Party) group in the Senate, Radu Oprea, stated on Tuesday that the bill to grant holiday vouchers to the 4.2 million employees in the private sector would have a budgetary impact of approximately 6 billion RON, respectively 0.42% of GDP, the Liberal parliamentarian Eugen Tapu-Nazare emphasizing that this effort will become an investment as a result of which the Gross Domestic Product would increase by at least 1%.
Eugen Tapu-Nazare, Radu Oprea and Lorand Turos, initiators of the legislative bill to grant these vouchers, proposed that the law apply from January 1, 2024 and hope that it will be promulgated in October at the latest, told Agerpres.
"The economy is a little more complex than accounting. No Romanian goes on holiday with 1,450 RON. The impact on the market would be 2.5 - 3 billion EUR - tourism, trade, transport, etc. Everything is linked and then the estimate would be one of increasing GDP by at least 1%. At least 150,000 jobs will be created. Thus, this effort becomes an investment", explained PNL senator Eugen Tapu-Nazare at the end of a debate attended by parliamentarians and representatives from tourism industry, of employers from small and medium enterprises, of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania.
He specified that, following the debate, "the feedback is positive" from the employers' associations.
He emphasized that "entrepreneurs must understand their part of responsibility, which means quality services in Romania and with reasonable prices accessible to the Romanian tourist."
The PSD senator mentioned that he learned from the HORECA industry that, before the vouchers were granted, there were 6,000 accommodation spaces, currently they amount to over 20,000.
"Investments in tourism have increased, competition is increasing and to the extent that this competition increases and prices must be cheaper. Therefore, we definitely wanted to have this discussion with HORECA representatives in order to correctly understand that at an outstretched hand they must assume and them the part of responsibility that means increasing the quality of services and decreasing prices. (...) Today's discussions were constructive and I believe that together we will manage to find solutions in which those from HORECA will be part of this process of increasing the quality of services and cheapening them so that as many Romanians as possible have access to tourism in Romania," said Oprea.