The Danube Delta is a place of outstanding beauty, the largest and most remarkable river wetlands in Europe.
Home to 300 species of birds, it has been listed on the UNESCO World Heritage site since 1991.
Several areas are off-limits for tourists and if the coronavirus pandemic continues, there won’t be any more tourism, a local organization warned Thursday.
The Association for Danube Delta Tourist Managers said 98% of hotels and guesthouses go into insolvency in two months without government aid.
Tourism companies are asking for a tax holiday until the end of the year, as well as European funds.
Association chairman, Catalin Tibuleac, said that almost all tourist enterprises would go bankrupt without the aid.
„If the government doesn’t take swift and rapid measures to support tourism, which is the sector most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, we estimate that in two months, 98% of hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and other businesses which are connected to Delat tourism will go bankrupt,” he said in a statement.
Some 2% of companies which are owned by shareholders who have financial resources to sustain the tourism market won’t have the capacity to relaunch tourism (when the pandemic is over) in a destination that is unique both nationally and internationally.”
Tibuleac said 5,000 jobs were at risk in the Delta and the underdeveloped county of Tulcea where the delta is located.
Tourism in the delta and the Black Sea is only six months long every year, due to the weather.
