Minister of the Environment and Water Management Sulfina Barbu yesterday met with representatives of seaside hotels, which have recently protested against the leasing of beaches to other operators than hotels. The minister visited beach sectors in Mamaia and Costinesti on Sunday and said that this summer the provisional constructions on the beach, such as bars, will not need authorization as there is an opposition from local authorities which want to compromise the investment plans of the Ministry of the Environment. Barbu said that hotels have very high tariffs for accommodation and this is a reason for which some Romanian tourists choose Bulgaria as a summer destination. The minister specified that today that the Chamber of Deputies would debate the changes to the 19/2006 ordinance on the way in which beaches are leased. The main changes target the financing of the lifeguard service from the state budget for the summer season this year. In addition, for the coming years both the lifeguard and the first aid beach services will be financed by the state budget through local budgets.

A commission especially created by the Ministry of the Environment is checking the way in which beach operators are fulfilling their lease contract obligations, the minister announced. Contracts will be cancelled in case operators do not respect their obligations by mid-June. The ministry reported private operators have leased 1.17 million square meters of beaches for this year in contracts amounting to 1.98 million euros. A number of 23 contracts have been closed, compared to 204 last year, when the rented surface was smaller (761,000 square meters). At the beginning of the month, seaside hotel owners together with the Employers Union Federation in Romanian Tourism and the National Agency of Tourism Agencies have asked for personal involvement of the Romanian president and of the prime minister in solving the problem of seaside beaches. Hotel owners are dissatisfied with the fact that beaches have not been leased to hotels like in previous years, making hotels unable to offer tourists the services for which foreign tour operators have opted and paid since last year.

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