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Study: Romanians’ holiday appetite may double business of travel agencies and tour operators in 2016
The Romanians’ appetite for holidays will increase the business of travel agencies and tour operators to over 4.5 billion lei, double the level of 2010, according to a study made by a financial service agency.
The business increase in the tourism sector is seen by the business figure of companies in the field which reached 4.31 billion lei in 2014, on the rise by almost 2 billion lei compared to 2010.
According to data from the Trade Registrar and the Ministry of Finance, processed by analysts from KeysFin, the number of companies in the field of Romanian tourism exceeded 3,000, on the rise by 1,000 compared to 2010.
“The Romanians’ growing confidence in economy, determined by better macroeconomic conditions, the effects of VAT reduction, the relative stability of the national currency and the positive evolution of offers made by travel operators are factors which have positively influenced dynamics in a sector for which we have great hope in the future,” KeysFin analysts say.
According to the study, tour operators had businesses of 2.035 billion lei in 2014, while travel agencies reported a business of 1.95 billion lei. An additional 320 million lei represented other services of booking and tourist assistance.
The biggest business in the tourist sector - 297.9 million lei- was recorded by Touring EuropaBus Romania (Eurolines), followed by Perfect Tour (226.5 million lei), Christian’76 Tour (213.5 million lei), Eximtur (175.2 million lei), Happy Tour (168.4 million lei) and Vola.ro (122.3 million lei). They were followed in Top 10 of travel operators by Hotelair, Fly Go Voyager, Paravion Tour and Business Travel Turism with business over 60 million lei.
When they plan their vacations, Romanians start with destinations abroad. According to INS data, analysed by KeysFin, 647,000 tourists went abroad in 2015 compared to 564,000 who chose to spend their holidays in Romania.
Statistics show an advance both in domestic and foreign tourism. In 2014 there were 542,000 tourists who chose vacations abroad and 502,000 who chose Romania.
Foreign destinations most in demand in 2015 were Greece and Bulgaria with 136,812 and 110,558 tourists. Turkey, Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Great Britain were also on the foreground with tens of thousand tourists each.
The list of destinations chosen by Romanians as most exotic includes Mexico, Australia, Jordan, Canada, Syria and Japan.
Analysts estimate that in 2016, on the background of geopolitical challenges at international level, there will be a bigger concentration of Romanians tourists in Bulgaria and Greece, to the detriment of Turkey, Egypt and even France, for fear of terrorist attacks.