Romanian tourists spend EUR 36.4 mln on New Year’s holiday

Newsroom 05/01/2015 | 16:22

Over 161,000 Romanian tourists spent some EUR 36.4 million on New Year’s travel packages and parties, according to data from the Romanian Federation of Tourism Employers (FPTR) cited by Mediafax.

One important trend this season was that the number of tourists that chose local destinations was up by 38 percent y-o-y, to a total of 152,000. The remaining 9,000 tourists traveled abroad and their number was down by 12 percent y-o-y.

Those that remained in Romania spent a total of RON 148 million (approximately EUR 31 million) on parties in clubs or restaurants and travel packages. This was up by 51 percent y-o-y, according to data from FPTR. Outside Romania local tourists spent EUR 4.8 million which was down by more than 8 percent y-o-y.

“Demand was high for mountain resorts and big cities and because of the small rate increase (y-o-y) hotels, restaurants and clubs reported a higher occupancy rate compared to last year’s season. Romanians preferred either renowned hotels or hotels with very cheap offers. The most popular areas were Prahova Valley, Poiana Brasov, Paltinis, Calimanesti, Baile Felix and traditional rural areas in Bran Moeciu, Maramures and Bucovina,” according to the FPTR press release.

Overall, some 56,000 tourists opted for a holiday in rural areas, 37,050 bought a travel package in a mountain resort, 31,500 chose hotels located in big cities, 27,000 went in a spa resort and only 500 tourists went to the seaside and another 100 to the Danube Delta.