In 2024, about 2.1 million foreign tourists visited our country, spending an average of 600 euros/person, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
For comparison, Bulgaria was visited last year by over 13 million foreign tourists. Bulgarians do not measure the spending of resident and non-resident tourists separately, but the total tourist spending in the neighboring country in 2024 was over one billion euros, more precisely about 1.3 billion euros (on average 3024.1 lei or 600 euros per person).
Business trips represented 49.2% of total trips by non-resident tourists arriving in Romania in 2024, with their spending representing 55.7% of total spending.
Private trips represented 50.8% of the total trips of non-resident tourists arriving in Romania in 2024, their expenses representing 44.3% of the total expenses.
Of the total number of non-residents arriving in Romania in 2024, 40.4% organized their stay on their own, 36.1% organized their stay through a travel agency, 16% opted for other ways of organizing the trip (for example, through a union), while 7.5% organized their trip both on their own and through a travel agency. The main means of transport used to arrive in Romania in 2024 was the plane, used by 77.7% of the total number of tourists, while 14.9% used their own cars, 5.8% coaches and buses, 0.6% river boats, 0.3% trains and 0.7% other means of transport (rental cars, motorcycles, etc.).
Also, INS data shows that the total number of non-resident tourists accommodated in collective tourist accommodation structures, in the fourth quarter of 2024, was 495,800, their expenses totaling 1.569 billion lei (on average 3,164.5 lei/person). Of the non-resident tourists arriving in Romania in the fourth quarter of 2024, 45.7% traveled for business purposes, their expenses representing 51.3% of total expenses. Of the total business expenses in the last three months of last year, the main share is represented by accommodation expenses (48.7%), followed by expenses in restaurants and bars (18.1%) and shopping expenses (13.0%).
Of the non-resident tourists arriving in Romania in the fourth quarter of 2024, 54.3% traveled for private purposes, their expenses representing 48.7% of total expenses. Of the total expenses for private purposes in the period October – December, the main share is represented by expenses for accommodation (42.2%), followed by expenses in restaurants and bars (19.6%) and expenses for shopping (19.1%). Of the total non-residents arriving in Romania in the fourth quarter of 2024, 40.4% organized their stay on their own, 35.9% organized their stay through a travel agency, 17% opted for other ways of organizing the trip (for example, through a union), while 6.7% organized their trip both on their own and through a travel agency.
The main means of transport used to arrive in Romania in the last months of last year was the plane, used by 78% of the total number of non-resident tourists, while 13.5% used their own cars, 7.3% coaches and buses, 0.8% river boats, 0.3% train and 0.1% other means of transport (rental cars, motorcycles, etc.).
By country, the most arrivals of foreign tourists accommodated in tourist reception structures with accommodation functions (including apartments and rooms for rent), in 2024, came from:
1. Germany – 240,400 people
2. Italy – 213,500 people
3. Israel – 151,500 people
4. USA – 147,464 people
5. United Kingdom – 135,087 people
6. Spain 119,907 people
7. Hungary 114,020 people
8. France 113,101 people
9. Ukraine 108,653 people
10. Poland 102,858 people.