Foreign tourists spent more than €660 million euros in Romania in the first half of 2018, up by 16% compared to the same period during 2017. The data from the National Statistics Institute (INS) also showed business tourism as the chief reason for inbound travel to the country.
Business trips, attending congresses, conferences courses, fairs and exhibitions accounted for 58.5% of the total number of non-resident tourists in Romania in Q II 2018. These tourists accounted for more than 60% of all expenditures for the period as well. The numbers also show the number of foreign tourists who checked into local hotels only went up by 5.6% in the same period, to 1.27 million, but their average spending also increased by 9.5%, to €518 euro.
Private travel accounted for a little over 40% of the overall arrivals, with holiday travel being the biggest reason for visiting. Private travel included travels for holidays, shopping, sports and cultural events, visits to friends and relatives, medical treatment, religion, transit and other activities.
Over half of the €660 million foreign tourists spent in Romania in the first half went on accommodation or about €263 euro per tourist. The fact that foreign tourist spent on average 1.9 nights at local hotels, suggests their average spending for accommodation for one night was about EUR 138. This, in turn, shows traveler preference for upper-segment hotels.
The remaining budget went on restaurant and bar tabs €110 million or €86.5 per person, shopping at €87.5 million or €68.7 per person, recreation with €47.2 million or €37 per person, and transport expenditures of €42.7 million or €33.5 per person).
The bad news is that Romania had a negative tourism balance, which means that the sums spent by foreign tourists in the country are lower than the sums spent by Romanians abroad. Foreigners spent about €990 million in Romania for tourism, but Romanians spent at least €1.62 billion abroad for the same purposes.