Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 21 ISSUE 4
Written by Agatha POPESCU, Daniela- Mirela PLESOIANU

The paper analyzed tourist arrivals in tourist and agri-tourist guesthouses of Romania in the year 2020 compared to 2019 in order to evaluate in what measure this tourism indicator was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The data provided by National Institute of Statistics allow to establish the dispersion of tourist arrivals in the territory of the country by the eight microregions of development and also to quantify the levels of the specific concentration indices: Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, Gini-Struck Index and Coefficient of Concentration. After the year 2019, which reached the top arrivals, overnight stays and receipts in Romania's tourism, the year 2020 brought the Covid- 19 pandemic which has disturbed tourism performance. However, in Romania the effects on tourism industry were lower than in other countries. In the periods of relaxation measures, tourists chose safe destinations for combining both the visits to objectives of high interest with tourist services of accommodation and meals at a convenient tariff. From this point of view, tourist and agri-tourist guesthouses were among the best alternatives, and they recorded a higher growth rate of tourist arrivals than at the national level in tourism industry. In 2019, tourist arrivals were higher in the tourist pensions located in the Center, North West, North East and West parts of the country, and in agri-tourist pensions situated in Center, North East, and North West. In 2020, the guesthouses situated in Centre, North West and North East regions registered the highest tourist arrivals. A moderate concentration of the arrivals was confirmed by the values of Herfindahl-Hirschman index which varied between 0.15 and 0.25, by the values of Gini-Struck index which were higher than 0.3 in the year 2019, but a little lower than 0.3 in 2020, and the values of Concentration coefficient which were higher than 0.33. Due to the reduced arrivals in 2020, all the concentration indices had lower values than in the year 2019. As final conclusion, in Romania,it is a moderate concentration of tourist arrivals, and even thou in 2020 there were problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, tourist and agri-tourist guesthouses were an alternative for accommodation and meals, harmoniously combining the need of safety with the desire to visit the tourist attractions of high interest.

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