The economic and social impact of a university education upon the development of the Romanian tourism industry

Historically, the Romania economy competed on low wages, but since 2007 close to 4 million citizens emigrated, eroding that advantage and increasing spending on students and pensioners. Romania is looking for alternatives, and tourism, could be a possible solution, but tourism education needs to become a priority. We surveyed 170 entrepreneurs and managers from the tourism sector to identify their perspectives on current employee's education levels along with the requirements for future educational initiatives. The primary research question in our study is whether or not a university degree makes a difference in an employee engaged in tourism.