Almost half of accommodation units at the Romanian seaside risk insolvency

Around 45% of the accommodation units in Constanta county, at the Romanian seaside, have a high risk of entering insolvency, according to data compiled by commercial risk management company Creditinfo Romania, quoted by Capital. The summer season is set to open this weekend, with the May 1 mini-break. At a national level, out of the 2,748 companies that operate accommodation units, 1,508 or 55% have a high risk of entering insolvency. Bucharest is top of the list, with 64% of companies owning hotels or other accommodation units here being at risk of entering insolvency. Among tourist developed counties, hospitality companies in Brasov (62%), Bihor (59%), Cluj (55%), Mures (54%), Prahova (53%), and Timis (51%) also see high risks. The Creditinfo Romania study found a correlation between the year the company owning accommodation units was established and the risk of entering insolvency. As such, the most exposed to risk are companies established between 2006 and 2010, with 54% of these companies having an insolvency risk. By comparison, companies established between 1991 and 1995 are the most solid, with only 31% of them being at risk of entering insolvency. There were 6,946 hotels, motels, pensions, hostels, cabins and other tourist accommodation units in the country, in 2016. Most of them were located in Brasov county (881 units), Constanta (761), and Harghita (371). Overall, 8.46 million tourists checked in local accommodation units in 2015. The most developed and sought after tourist areas of Romania were: Bucharest (1.7 million tourist arrivals), especially for corporate and cultural tourism; Constanta (1.02 million arrivals) for summer tourism; Brasov (997,601) and Prahova (467,158) for mountain tourism; Mures (495,481) for spa, culture and mountain tourism; Cluj (428,812) for corporate, spa and cultural tourism; Bihor (344,059) for spa and mountain tourism; Timis (338,238) for corporate tourism; and Suceava (310,458). These counties attract 80% of the total tourists, according to the same study. Bucharest hotels and accommodation units generated a turnover of RON 1.29 billion (EUR 288.4 million) in 2015, the highest in the country. Constanta was second with RON 447 million (EUR 99.3 million). It was followed by Timis with RON 184 million (EUR 40.8 million), Brasov with RON 171 million (EUR 38 million), Prahova with RON 166 million (EUR 36.8 million), Cluj with RON 160 million (EUR 35.5 million), Bihor with RON 141 million (EUR 31.3 million), and Mures with RON 139 million (EUR 30.8 million). editor@romania-insider.com