The Bucharest Senate has passed a Government\u2019s emergency decree on granting holiday vouchers to public sector employees, that will cost the state budget around 384 million euros. It is the Chamber of Deputies that will have the final say on this law, following debates. Under the new law, until November 30, 2018 each public sector employee should receive a holiday voucher worth around 322 euros. The decree has been criticized by the Liberal opposition in the Senate, who voted against the document. Liberal senator Florin Catu has explained:<\/p>\n
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\u201cEmployees working in the public sector who, on average, have bigger salaries than the private sector employees will receive, through this government decree, holiday vouchers. Who will cover the costs? The private sector. In my opinion, even more serious is the fact that we talk about holiday vouchers in a year when, through a budget revision, we slashed 10.6 billion lei from the budget earmarked for investment<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the Social Democrat Senator Lavinia Craioveanu says that the measure is stipulated in his party\u2019s governing programme:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that many Romanians will have the opportunity to spend a holiday in the mountains, at the seaside or anywhere else, something they may not have afforded otherwise, is a measure that will obviously boost tourism in Romania<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n
The electronic holiday vouchers can only be used to purchase tourist services in affiliated units and are not transferable. Also, they cannot be sold and their nominal value cannot be diminished. Moreover, travel agencies are not allowed to sell these vouchers for holiday packages for a price higher than similar holiday packages purchased through different payment methods. The National Association of Travel Agencies in Romania (ANAT) has recently announced that the value of holiday packages paid for with holiday vouchers is below expectations, accounting for only 10.3 million euros until the end of July, given that this year such vouchers have only been granted in the private sector.<\/p>\n
ANAT is expecting the 1.2 million people working in the public sector to also be granted holiday vouchers this year, a move likely to increase the tourist market from 10 million euros in 2016 to 380 million euros this year. However, travel agencies have confirmed that granting holiday vouchers in the private system alone, has boosted tourism in Romania. (Translated by E. Enache<\/em>)<\/p>\n
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