Romanian Tourist Farm Houses, B&Ls Could Get Fiscal Exemptions - State Secretary

Romanian farm houses and guest houses accommodating tourists could be exempt from certain taxes, to encourage and boost rural tourism, Romanian Tourism Ministry state secretary Corneliu Popovici said Friday.

Popopvici told a news conference Friday that the ministry is promoting a draft law to improve regulations in the tourism sector and create facilities to help the development of rural tourism

He said the draft sets tax facilities for farm houses, guest houses and small tourist accommodation facilities, of which Romania has about 1,200.

Popopvici added tax exemptions would be temporary.

"We ant to create facilities so that in two to four years, these board and lodging units start bringing revenue to local budgets and the state budget,” Popovici said.


The state secretary said board and lodging units could be exempt from paying profit taxes and VAT, adding states such as Hungary and Austria have such facilities.

Asked whether these proposed tax exemptions would affect the state budget, the state secretary said he doesn’t think the Finance Ministry is counting very much on tax collections from the merely 1,200 such units the country has.