Bega Turism is the largest company in the tourism industry in Timis County, Western Romania, and manages three hotels.
“Reality beat expectations. Both in terms of tourist numbers and in terms of revenue, we posted more than 15% growth so far,” Marius Cristescu told ZF.
Bega Turism posted EUR6 million revenue in 2013.
The businessman says the explanation for the growth is that his company attended ten international fairs and also bid in international conference tenders.
“Other than us I don’t see anyone promoting Timisoara. No commitment there. We were the only ones from Timisoara at those fairs we attended.”
Only 280,000 guests stayed in hotels and other accommodation facilities in Timis County last year. The 112 hotel companies registered in the county posted merely 161 million lei (EUR36 million) revenue, which might indicate the state of the tourism industry in the area.
Although Timis is Romania’s largest county by surface area and its gross domestic product per capita stands at more than EUR10,000, 50% higher than the national average, it cannot even begin to rival Bucharest in terms of tourism industry revenue. That is because very few people who stay in hotels came there on vacation, most are there on business or just passing through.
However, Marius Cristescu is betting on business travel and even plans to develop a conference center next year, in a EUR5 million investment.
Cristescu brothers own Timisoara Hotel in Timisoara (209 rooms), Timisoara Hotel in Sannicolau Mare (45 rooms) and two-star Nord Hostel in Timisoara (39 rooms). They invested more than EUR10 million in getting the hotel in Timisoara upgraded from four to five-stars.
They also inaugurated an adventure park in Orastie, in the 88-hectare Arsenal Park Orastie complex, in September, following a EUR6 million investment.
The Cristescu brothers own other businesses besides their tourism operations, 16 companies in total, including the oil industry service company Foraj Sonde Craiova (FOSB.RO), the largest drilling company by revenue last year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)