Survey: 44% of Romanians prefer traveling with their significant other

What motivates Romanians to travel abroad? In October 2022, Kiwi.com ordered a study* from STEM/MARK about travel habits among responders from Romania, as well as other countries from Central Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland). The travel-tech company shares information about why Romanians choose to travel, who they travel with and what they always do when on vacation.

Looking for cultural experiences

• More than half of Romanians – 56.4% – said that their main motivation for traveling abroad is getting to experience the local culture and life of different countries: going to local restaurants, pubs, events, culture and get to learn or practice the local language;
• 6% only visit tourist attractions, historical sights and go sightseeing without interacting with the locals.

While 34.6% of Romanians travel to see familiar faces such as friends or family who live abroad, 22.7% want to go on an adventure and meet other travelers. 19.3% of Romanians travel with the specific plan to attend certain cultural events (exhibitions, concerts, music festivals or museums), and another 8.8% travel specifically for sporting events, either to watch or take part in them. Last but not least, 13.9% of Romanian travelers just want to relax, and are less interested in sights or local culture.

Romanians don’t like traveling alone

• Asked who they travel with or who they prefer to travel with, 44% of Romanians said that their significant other is their main traveling partner;
• 6% said that when they go on vacation, they travel with their whole family;
• 2% travel with their group of friends;
• Only 9.8% travel alone.

When it comes to traveling solo, 60.4% of Romanians said that they never travel alone and they wouldn’t want to try it, while 25.1% said that while they don’t travel by themselves, they would like to try it, and 14.5% have no problem going on vacation on their own (significantly lower than the average of 26.4% across the countries surveyed).

Asked what would motivate them to travel on their own or what would be their motivation to try it, 42% said that their main reason for this decision would be the freedom to set their own budget and plan their activities freely, 27.6% would choose traveling alone to get a more authentic experience by mixing with locals and getting to know the culture. 14.4% of those surveyed by Kiwi.com said they travel alone or would travel alone because they will visit friends or family, while 13.2% said it would be easier to meet other people this way.

What are Romanians doing on vacation?

According to the survey, when asked what are the things that they always do when traveling:

• 3% of Romanians said that they take photos, either for themselves or to show to others later;
• 9% look for places where they can try local cuisine;
• 5% said that they look for places that serve local food and share pictures of their meals on social media;
• 34% said that they always just sit in a cafe and watch the world go by;
• 3% share Instagram or Facebook Stories to show where they are;
• 5% do TikTok videos that they try to get on For You pages.

Only 8.5% of Romanians said they always look for the best nightlife in the cities they’re visiting. Compared to the average of 11% among respondents from the five surveyed countries, only 3.5% of Romanians said they still engage in the age-old tradition of sending postcards from their vacations.

*The study was conducted by STEM/MARK on behalf of Kiwi.com between 14-24 October of 2022, on 5054 respondents from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania, who had traveled abroad at least twice in the past 6 years.