TOURIST INNS ON ROMANIA’S MODERN TOURISM MARKET

Abstract

The present paper investigates a less debated topic of the accommodation sector: the presence of tourist inns on the Romanian market. More than 20 years ago, authorities decided to exclude tourist inns from the official classification system. Relying on both official data, collected and processed based on the List of Accommodation Facilities (Lodgings and Food-service units) elaborated by the National Authority for Tourism, and on the information available on specialized websites (e.g. Booking.com) a thorough analysis has been performed in order to identify all structures that function on the local market pretending to be inns. The identified structures have been categorized and discussed according to various criteria: name of the hospitality unit, name of the enterprise that owns/runs the inn, type of unit, level of classification, lodging capacity; localization. The undertaken research and analyses led to the identification of 288 accommodation and/or food-service structures matching one or more criteria that link them to inns. One of the main findings establishes that inmania’s modern tourism industry there is a fully justified need to grant a special attention to inns. Further investigations have already been initiated in this field, continuing the current study.