23% of Romanians have not been on holiday at all in the last 12 months, extensive study reveals

The Destination of the Year and the Institute for Visionary Cities (IOV) have launched “Research on Visionary Destinations”, the largest study of habits and attitudes of Romanian tourists in the last 10 years, carried out by the market research agency AHA Moments, an independent research agencies from Romania.

The research was carried out in March 2023, it includes a detailed analysis of 3000 respondents and 2500 vacations of Romanians from the last 12 months, from Romania and abroad, and focuses on the attitudes and vacation habits of Romanians, as well as on the profile of the public target of tourist destinations in the country.

According to the study, holidays are still a treat for Romanians. Unfortunately, almost a quarter (23%) of respondents have not been on any holiday in the past year and only half have afforded a holiday longer than 4 nights. Conversely, 13% of respondents say they have even had a mix of at least one holiday of over 4 nights and at least one mini-holiday of 1-3 nights in the last 12 months.

The main reasons for going on vacation are the need for recreation (61%), disconnection (60%) or fun (53%). Half of respondents (50%) indicated that vacationing is a way to reward themselves or take care of themselves (47%).

Romania was the chosen destination for most vacations in the last year, with over 90% of mini-vacations and over 70% of longer vacations. However, there is a trend of increasing preferences for holidays abroad, in line with the behavior also recorded at the European level.

 “With the increase in purchasing power and income, people naturally choose to travel more abroad, something also observed in other European countries. The tourist operators in Romania must be prepared to face this situation, both to maintain their attractiveness for Romanian tourists, but especially to attract foreign tourists interested in experiences outside their countries”, comments Mihai Bârsan, organizer of the Destination of the Year.

Romanians prefer to organize their holidays themselves, with only 18% using travel agencies for domestic reservations and about 32% for holidays outside the country.

In Romania, the preferred destination was the mountain, both in mini-vacations (1-4 nights) and in extended vacations (more than 4 nights). Of the 91% who chose to spend their mini-vacations in Romania, a percentage of 18% stands out for city-breaks in the country, another trend to follow and capitalize on for domestic cities.

Bulgaria was the most popular destination for mini-breaks abroad, followed by Spain, while for extended holidays, Greece took first place, followed by Bulgaria and Italy.

The analysis highlights several “champion” counties, which are in the top of the respondents for several of the analyzed criteria.

The ranking of the most visited counties for tourist purposes includes, in order, Brașov, Constanța, Sibiu, Maramureș and Prahova, while Maramureș, Brașov, Iași, Sibiu and Suceava are in the top of the most recommended counties, by those who visited them. Maramureş ranks 1st and in the top counties with “Welcoming people”, followed by Bihor, Brașov, Suceava, Sibiu. Respondents also indicated Brașov as the county with the highest score for the price-quality ratio (“It’s worth all the money”), followed by Maramureș, Sibiu, Bihor and Suceava.

According to the research, when it comes to the seaside, Romania is the choice of half of the respondents, followed by Greece and Bulgaria. 49% of respondents say they have been to the sea in Romania in 2022 and 44% intend to go in 2023. However, when thinking about the future, Romania is the only country that loses in the intention to visit, while Greece and Turkey are the most sought after destinations.

Greece wins the image battle, including the degree of recommendation, by a wide margin. Those who have been there in the last 5 years rate Greece over Romania in all aspects, except the ease with which you can get there. The biggest differences compared to Romania are in terms of cleanliness and decent price (+30%), followed by beaches and service quality (+25%). Compared to Bulgaria, there seems to be a better chance for the Romanian coast to defend its market share: there is a better perception of safety, about food or the possibilities of having fun with the family. Instead, the perception of the level of cleanliness and quality of services must be improved.

Overall, respondents say they were satisfied with the destinations where they spent their vacations and would definitely recommend them to friends or colleagues, regardless of whether they are in the country or abroad. However, the area where they signal the biggest difference between destinations in Romania and those outside the country is that of “quality services”.