THE ROLE OF THE TERTIARY SECTOR IN THE GROWTH OF ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS

The present paper attempts to forward a brief analysis of the tertiary sector in Romania, by comparison with the other European Union countries. It starts by a short presentation of this sector, continues with the analysis of the main services and presents their contribution to the GDP, the accent being laid on the role of tourism in the increase of economic competitiveness. In this respect we performed a comparative analysis between Romania and other countries in the region regarding the contribution of tourism to employment, its percentage in the GDP, as well as the contribution of tourism to the total exports.