The Short-Term Impact of the European Structural Funds on the Tourism Services in the Romanian Rural Area

The objectives of the research presented in the curent paper consisted in establishing the impact of the European Structural Funds on the establishments of tourism reception in the Romanian rural area, as well as the vectors to increase their competitiveness. The studied population was represented by the beneficiaries of the financing funds aimed to encourage the tourism activities during the period 2008-2012. The European Structural Funds contributed to the increase of tourism supply, degree of usage of the Romanian tourism potential, value flows in the rural area and, despite the fact that the beneficiary establishments are, in generally, unprofitably, they determined an improvement of the employment level in the rural area, as well as an overall improvement of the labor productivity. The main vector of competitiveness increase consists in the improvermenl of the speciality-related professional training of the persones employed in this establishments.