Tourism : Romanians expected to exceed the record level of 11 billion euros spent on vacations, business tourism in 2025

  Romanians spent more than three billion euros on foreign travel in the first four months of 2025, 15% more than in the same period in 2024, and they are expected to exceed the record level of 11 billion euros for the whole year, according to a specialist analysis, based on data released by the National Bank of Romania (BNR).Colliers data, published on Tuesday, show that domestic tourism is also on an upward trend: the number of nights spent in hotels and other accommodation units increased by 1%, and if this trend continues, 2025 could become the best year for local tourism in the last three decades, surpassing the record of 2024.If the current pace is maintained, Romanians' spending on holidays abroad and business tourism will exceed 11 billion euros by the end of the year - a new record, after the 9.6 billion euros in 2024, the 8.6 billion euros in 2023, and the 5.4 billion euros in 2019, before the pandemic.In 2024, Romanians spent the largest amounts in Germany and Italy - each with over one billion euros, according to Eurostat data on the balance of payments for travel. The next placed are the Netherlands (almost 700 million euros), Spain and France (approximately 600 million euros each)."Romanians not only want to travel more, but they are completely changing their behaviour on vacation, becoming active consumers, who buy, discover new places and invest in new experiences. We see this trend also in the domestic tourism, where, in the first four months of 2024, Romanians spent more than 5 million nights in accommodation units - a continuation of the record reached in 2023, the best year we had in the last three decades. This new type of behaviour is transforming shopping centres in tourist cities into true lifestyle areas, and real estate investors are increasingly starting to rely on the synergy between retail, tourism and experience," says Liana Dumitru, Retail Agency Director at Colliers.In the vision of Colliers consultants, the greatest growth opportunities come from urban regeneration projects, which bring together retail, tourism and culture.