CACTUS CACTUS J Tour Bus Manag Econ CACTUS – Journal of Tourism Business, Management and Economics 2247-3297 ASE Publishing House Bucharest, Romania 10.24818/cts/6/2024/2.04 cactus-2024-11 Research Article Z32, L83, G01, I15 Comparative assessment of crises and recovery in the Romanian tourism market Tudose (Pop) Iuliana https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9853-6748 ipop2008@gmail.com Bulin Daniel https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6649-0784 Poenaru Luciana-Floriana https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5671-0575 Toma Antonela https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5472-394X Cipu Elena-Corina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2244-8928 Popescu Delia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7386-2985 Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania University Politehnica of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania University Politehnica of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania 15 12 2024 6 2 15122024 Copyright © 2024, The Author(s) 2024 The Author(s) This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

The Romanian tourism industry has yet to prove that it is a resilient economic sector that can adapt to global crises. This study provides a contextual analysis of the sector's performance during two international crises – the global financial crisis (GFC) and the COVID-19 pandemic (C19). The main question is: How do tourism demand and accommodation supply in the Romanian tourism sector respond to global shocks, and what patterns of resilience or vulnerability do these crises reveal? Previous studies have focused on tourist satisfaction and the differential impact of tourism activities after EU integration, but have rarely examined the resilience of the sector in the midst of two different global crises. The need for this research stems from its comparative nature —assessing the pre- and post-crisis periods of the GFC and C19 — thus contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the sector's dynamics. This work fills a gap in the existing literature and applies a longitudinal approach to assess Romanian tourism resilience, market confidence and response to economic and health-related shocks. The study applies a quantitative methodological framework and uses time series data from 2002-2022,with descriptive statistics, comparisons and trend analyses serving as the main pillars for interpreting the evolution of tourism demand, accommodation supply and occupancy rates. The analysis shows that the Romanian tourism sector has proven to be resilient, as operational capacity exceeded pre-crisis levels after the COVID-19crisis, although demand fell sharply and has not fully recovered to date. Occupancy rates fell significantly during both crises and have only partially recovered.

 Keywords global financial crisis Covid-19 pandemic crisis resilience recovery tourism

Full text available in PDF format.

References Abbas, J., Mubeen, R., Iorember, P. T., Raza, S., & Mamirkulova, G. (2021). Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on tourism: Transformational potential and implications for a sustainable recovery of the travel and leisure industry. Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, 2, 100033. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2021.100033 10.1016/j.crbeha.2021.100033 Backer, E., & Ritchie, B. W. (2017). VFR travel: A viable market for tourism crisis and disaster recovery? International Journal of Tourism Research, 19(4), 400–411. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2102 10.1002/jtr.2102 Casal-Ribeiro, M., Boavida-Portugal, I., Peres, R., & Seabra, C. (2023). Review of crisis management frameworks in tourism and hospitality: A meta-analysis approach. Sustainability, 15(15), 12047. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151512047 10.3390/su151512047 Čaušević, A. (2023). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel behavior and travel mode preferences: The example of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sustainability, 15(13), 10701. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310701 10.3390/su151310701 Cohen, E. (2012). Globalization, global crises and tourism. Tourism Recreation Research, 37(2), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2012.11081695 10.1080/02508281.2012.11081695 Coroș, M. M., Popescu, D., Pop, I., & Gheorghe, G. (2023). Smart city, smart tourism. In A. L. Negrușa & M. M. Coroș (Eds.), Remodelling businesses for sustainable development (pp. 167–188). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19656-0_12 10.1007/978-3-031-19656-0_12 Crețu, C. M., Turtureanu, A. G., Sîrbu, C. G., Chițu, F., Marinescu, E. S., Talaghir, L. G., & Robu, D. M. (2021). Tourists’ perceptions regarding traveling for recreational or leisure purposes in times of health crisis. Sustainability, 13(15), 8405. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158405 10.3390/su13158405 Duan, J., Xie, C., & Morrison, A. M. (2021). Tourism crises and impacts on destinations: A systematic review of the tourism and hospitality literature. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 46(4), 667–695. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096348021994194 10.1177/1096348021994194 Duro, J. A., Fernández-Fernández, M., Perez-Laborda, A., & Rosselló, J. (2024). Resilience dynamics and their determinants: The transition to coronavirus pandemic recovery. Tourism Review, 79(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-04-2023-0243 10.1108/TR-04-2023-0243 Gaki, E., & Koufodontis, N. I. (2022). Regional tourism resilience and recovery in times of crises. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 40(1), 259–266. https://doi.org/10.30892/gtg.40131-827 10.30892/gtg.40131-827 Hall, C. M. (2010). Crisis events in tourism: Subjects of crisis in tourism. Current Issues in Tourism, 13(5), 401–417. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2010.491900 10.1080/13683500.2010.491900 Hornoiu, R. I., Popescu, D., Militaru, I. A., & Răducanu, S. F. (2022). Ecotourism, a resilient solution in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic? Cactus Tourism Journal, 4(1), 6–17. https://doi.org/10.24818/CTS/4/2022/1.01 10.24818/CTS/4/2022/1.01 Ibănescu, B. C., Eva, M., & Gheorghiu, A. (2020). Questioning the role of tourism as an engine for resilience: The role of accessibility and economic performance. Sustainability, 12(14), 5527. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145527 10.3390/su12145527 Ibănescu, B.-C., & Cehan, A. (2021). Dezvoltare durabilă versus reziliență în destinațiile turistice. In A. Bănică & A.-I. Petrișor (Eds.), Dezvoltare durabilă și reziliență: Perspective teritoriale și abordări multidisciplinare (pp. 299–316). Editura Academiei Române. Kumar, P., & Ekka, P. (2023). Statistical analysis of the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the small and large-scale tourism sectors in developing countries. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 26, 9625–9659. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03112-4 10.1007/s10668-023-03112-4 Lamhour, O., Safaa, L., & Perkumienė, D. (2023). What does the concept of resilience in tourism mean in the time of COVID-19? Results of a bibliometric analysis. Sustainability, 15(12), 9797. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129797 10.3390/su15129797 Li, Z., Farmanesh, P., Kirikkaleli, D., & Itani, R. (2022). A comparative analysis of COVID-19 and global financial crises: Evidence from the US economy. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, 35(1), 2427–2441. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2021.1952640 10.1080/1331677X.2021.1952640 Narayan, P. K., Gong, Q., & Ahmed, H. J. A. (2022). Is there a pattern in how COVID-19 has affected Australia’s stock returns? Applied Economics Letters, 29(3), 179–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2020.1861190 10.1080/13504851.2020.1861190 National Institute of Statistics (NIS). (2024). Statistică economică – Turism. Retrieved February 12, 2024, from http://statistici.insse.ro:8077/tempo-online/#/pages/tables/insse-table Novais, M. A., Ruhanen, L., & Arcodia, L. (2018). Destination competitiveness: A phenomenographic study. Tourism Management, 64, 324–334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.08.014 10.1016/j.tourman.2017.08.014 OECD. (2020). Rebuilding tourism for the future: COVID-19 policy responses and recovery. https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/rebuilding-tourism-for-the-future-covid-19-policy-responses-and-recovery-bced9859/ Ortega Palomo, G., Navarro Jurado, E., & Cerezo Medina, A. (2022). Stakeholders’ perception of the impacts and recovery strategies to apply in the face of a severe tourism crisis: The case of Covid-19 in Spain. Cuadernos de Turismo, 50, 203–228. https://doi.org/10.6018/turismo.541921 10.6018/turismo.541921 Persson-Fischer, U., & Liu, S. (2021). The impact of a global crisis on areas and topics of tourism research. Sustainability, 13, 906. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020906 10.3390/su13020906 Popescu, D., Pop, I., Coroș, M. M., & Gheorghe, G. (2022). Overcoming the negative consequences of coronavirus pandemic on tourism: The European Union experience. In R. Pamfilie, V. Dinu, & C. Vasiliu (Eds.), 8th BASIQ International Conference on New Trends in Sustainable Business and Consumption, Graz, Austria, 25–27 May 2022 (pp. 359–366). ASE. Roubini, N., & Mihm, S. (2010). Crisis economics: A crash course in the future of finance. Penguin Press. Șchiopu, A. F., Hornoiu, R. I., Pădurean, M. A., & Nica, A. M. (2022). Constrained and virtually traveling? Exploring the effect of travel constraints on intention to use virtual reality in tourism. Technology in Society, 71, 101575. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2021.101575 10.1016/j.tele.2021.101575 Strat, V. A., Davidescu, A. A. M., Grosu, R. M., & Zgură, I. D. (2016). A quantitative approach regarding the evolution of the Romanian tourism firms, during and after the global financial crisis. Amfiteatru Economic, 18(10), 815–828. http://hdl.handle.net/10419/169038 Surugiu, M. R., Vasile, V., Mazilescu, R., Surugiu, C., & Vasile, R. (2023). Determinants of resilience building in tourism: A case study on Romania in the context of the pandemic crises. Journal of Tourism Management Research, 10(1), 15–31. https://doi.org/10.18488/31vOil.3237 10.18488/31vOil.3237 World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). (2019). International tourism highlights, 2019 edition. https://doi.org/10.18111/9789284421152 10.18111/9789284421152 Yussuf, A. A., Okunkova, E. A., Ioda, J. V., Tleptserukov, M. A., & Butova, L. M. (2023). Assessment of the risks of transition from a global pandemic crisis to a model of long-term economic growth. In E. G. Popkova (Ed.), Sustainable development risks and risk management (Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation, pp. 183–200). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34256-1_14 10.1007/978-3-031-34256-1_14 Zaman, G., & Georgescu, G. (2009). The impact of global crisis on Romania’s economic development. Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, 11(2), 611–624.