Employees at Peleș Palace (Sinaia – Romania), together with some guides, have created a parallel ticket resale system, through which the money given by tourists does not reach the state, but goes into their pockets.
The information has been confirmed by insiders and judicial sources for Libertatea. As a result of the revelations, the Minister of Culture will send the Control Body to Peleș.
There are two schemes:
The first one is for tourist groups, whose tickets were not discarded, but resold. Cash only. And the money thus collected was divided among network members.
The second business variant involved a museum employee buying student discount tickets for a group of tourists, but asking them for the full price. The entrance for students costs 37.5 lei, while the full price of a ticket for adults is 150 lei (30 euros). The difference in money went into the employees' pockets.
Peleș Castle is owned by the royal family of Romania, but remains administered by the Romanian state, under the Ministry of Culture.
The Peleș Museum generates annual revenues of millions of euros, especially from tickets.
In the first 10 months of 2024, officially 14.5 million lei were collected from ticket sales and 2.2 million lei from souvenir sales. That is approximately 17 million lei (3.4 million euros).