New Romanian tourism law: seaside hotels required to stay open from May to October

Romanian tourism operators will have to keep accommodation units on the Black Sea shore open throughout the entire summer season, from May 1 to October 1, and revamp the units, the Government decided in a meeting on Sunday. The provisions have been introduced in the country's tourism law, approved by the Government Sunday and sent to Parliament to be debated with urgency, said Tourism Minster Elena Udrea. She said the ministry will get its own system to more accurately keep track of the number of tourists staying in Romania because there are major differences between the number of tourist reported by different institutions and numbers reported by tourist accommodation units. Beach administration and maintenance will be exclusively the attribution of local hotel operators and the law introduces a 1 percent hotel tax, half of which will go to local authorities and the rest will be used for tourist development projects. Mediafax (Photo source: Romania-Insider.com)