STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABE-BOLYAI, NEGOTIA, LI, 1, 2006 ROMANIA’S TOURISM SECTOR: ACTIVITY AND EMPLOYMENT MONICA MARIA CORO 1 , CARMEN MARIA GUł 2 ABSTRACT. The present paper aims to analyze the situation of Romania’s tourism activity, beginning with 1990, when our country began its transition from a centralized economy towards a market economy. The main purpose of this analysis is generated by the fact that our country enjoys a great development potential for this sector. Another aspect that raised our interest is that related to the development of the tourism accommodation facilities and to that of the employment of this sector. Finally, we intend to correlate the three analyzed factors for identifying the possible solutions for reestablishing tourism’s situation and that of the employment. Key words: tourism, employment, services, activity, quality Introduction Ever since 1990, the Romanian authorities have declared tourism a national priority. Still, the sad reality is that this very important and valuable asset of our country continues to be underdeveloped. Moreover, the services’ sector has been identified as one of the most important sources for Romania’s economic growth and social development. We believe it is necessary to approach tourism from two perspectives. On one hand, it contributes to the national incomes’ increase, mainly based on the expenditures of both the Romanian and the foreign tourists. On the other hand, tourism may generate a major impact upon employment. Tourism, as part of the tertiary sector of the economy, also known as the industry of services, represents, according to the specialized literature “the activity of carrying out services, which handles the organization of enjoyment trips or for any other purpose, carried out through the means of specialized organizations, traveling offices etc, or on its own, for a time span greater than 24 hours. Tourism includes all the activities that serve and satisfy the consumption and services needs of the tourists.” [Constantinescu, 1974, p. 782., authors translation]. There are different purposes for tourist activities: recreation, healing, treatment, participating at different events (congresses, symposiums, conferences, seminars, trainings etc), business trips etc. There are also connected services implied by tourism: transportation, 1 PhD student, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj- Napoca, Romania. 2 Teaching Assistant, PhD student, Faculty of Business, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.