Tourism: Mountain areas and big cities most popular in Romania this year

Mountain areas and big cities such as Brasov, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu and Sinaia have been the most popular destinations in Romania in the first nine months of the ongoing year, according to preferences of Travelminit.ro website users, recorded in the first nine months of the year.   The average price for an accomodation night went up by 8% against last year, the spa sector recording the highest increase of 16%. Mountain areas followed with 10% increase and cities with 8%. Practically, an accomodation night for a single person costs an average of 169 lei in mountain areas, 191 lei for spa destinatiions and 161 lei in cities,” according to a Wednesday press release.   For couples, a two-night stay cost an average of 811 lei, showing a 6.5% rise against last year. A two-night stay for two persons in mountain areas cost 775 lei on the average, in cities -694 lei and for spa destinations 908 lei. Family travels for four nights showed a general increase of 8.7% compared to 2023, with notable increases in mountain destinations (2038 lei), spa destinations (2183 lei) and cities (1832 lei), Travelminit.ro mentions.   The most popular travel periods this year included the weekend following the beginning of school holidays, as of June 21, the St Mary extended weekend in August and the last two weekends in July.   According to data centralized at the end of September, although the domestic tourism market stagnated compared to the same period of 2023, the Romanian seaside remained the main holiday destination for summer sojourns of the Romanians, with an average package cost close to that of last season.   Following the impact inflation had on holiday budgets, Romanians cose to go to the seaside at season limits. In context, Litoralulromanesc.ro company recorded a sales increase of about 20% against 2023, reporting sales of over 270 million lei, compared to 224 million lei last year. The increase of the number of tourists was about 14%, with over 265,000 people who booked they seaside vacation by means of the travel agency, 38% of whom paid with the holiday card.   On the littoral, Romanian tourists preferred 3 and 4 star hotels, wile the biggest interest was for all inclusive deals and those including accommodation, breakfast and additional services, such as swimming pool, private beach and children playgrounds. The average stay was 4.6 nights, and the average accommodation deal of 544 euros for two, remained at 2023 levels. The top of resorts preferred by the Romanians for summer holidays Eforie Nord and Mamaia held the first two positions, but Mamaia recorded a higher number of bookings compared to 2023. Neptun-Olimp held the third position.   2024 summer season did not record significant changes regarding the tourists' satisfaction degree towards services received. According to the over 15,000 tourists who gave feedback at the end of their stay on the littoral, hoteal cleanliness was evaluated at 8.50 out of 10, services at 8.19, hotel position 8.92, staff 8.46 and quality-orice ration at 8.08. The only category that received under 8 (7.80) referred to facilities of accommodation units, grades close to thse of 2023.   “Based on INS data, while trips abroad increased, domestic tourism maintained its score. This sustained demand points out the importance of keeping tourists in Romania and improving local offer. However, international competition continues to challenge us , which requires innovation and improvements in the domestic tourism sector,” said Timea Imecs-Ambrus, CEO of Travelminit.ro, in a press release.   Szallas Group holds digital travel producst in Poland (Nocowanie.pl), Romania (Tra.ro), Hungary (Szallas.hu), Czechia (Hotel.cz) and Croatia and owns a data base with 80,000 accommodation partners, offering a variety of additional services (for example: savings coupons, travel services and wellness offers). Szallas Group became part of Wirtualna Polska Holding in 2022.   Set up in Cluj Napoca, Travelminit includes over 8,000 accommodation units (hotels, pensions, apartments) in Romania, offering a wide range of accommodation options throughout the country (at the seaside, mountain, spas and big cities) and is a leader for holiday card bookings. Since 2020, Travelminit has been part of Szallas Group.