In 2024, Romanians are adding some spice to their travel preferences

The beginning of a new year is a time marked by resolutions, and traveling more is usually on everyone’s list, and Romanians are no strangers to this goal either, making it into the top 10 nationalities traveling with Kiwi.com this year. The leading travel-tech company looked at how Romanians are planning their trips at the beginning of 2024, and shares what they’ve found.

For this year, Romanians are slowly changing their all-time favorites, adding some new destinations to the mix. So far, the most booked destinations are Italy, Spain, the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Turkey, Portugal, the UAE and the Netherlands. Both Turkey and the UAE are new additions to the top 10, replacing Ireland and Austria from last year.

London remains at the top when it comes to most popular cities, followed by Paris, Milan, Rome, Barcelona, Brussels, Madrid, Dublin and Vienna, with Madrid replacing Venice in the top 10 in 2024.

But what about where they wish to go but haven’t decided yet? Romanians’ interest in trips that will take them further away from home is on the rise, with searches on the rise for destinations such as Maldives (124%), Japan (75%), the UAE (65%) or Turkey (60%), compared to last year. The cities that saw the largest increase in interest are Abu Dhabi (105%), New York (82%) and Istanbul (78%). Moreover, some new destinations are making an appearance on Romanians’ lists this year, such as Bangkok, Malé or Funchal, as well as cities in Albania, Qatar, Serbia and Vietnam.

So far, compared to 2023, it seems that Romanians are planning further ahead: the average booking window for 2024 is 60 days, compared to 51 days last year. 35% of Romanians booked their flights on Kiwi.com 21 to 60 days in advance, 25% of them did so 61 to 121 days ahead, while 6% chose last-minute deals, booking up to three days in advance. On the other hand, another 6% panned way ahead, booking 179 to 319 days in advance.

When it comes to how long their vacations will be, Romanians are spending 6 days away, on average, in 2024, same as last year. More than two thirds (68%) chose city breaks of up to 3 days, 15% will spend 4 to 6 days at their destination, and 11% chose stays of 7 to 10 days.

For their 2024 getaways, Romanians paid 114 euros, on average. The medium price for short haul trips is 80 euros, 112 euros for medium haul journeys, and 415 euros long hauls.

As far as European trends go, Romanians are pretty much aligned, but Romania is also trending, being the eighth most popular destination. The top includes, in order, Spain, Italy, the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Turkey.