INS: Non-resident tourists in Romania spend an average 520euros/person in first half of the year

Non-resident tourists arriving in Romania spent, on average, 2,573.3 lei/person (approximately 520 euros, at the National Bank of Romania exchange rate), in the first half of this year, and the main reason for travel to Romania (59.6%) was represented by business, including participation in congresses, conferences, courses, fairs, and exhibitions, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) on Thursday. According to the official statistics, in the first six months of 2021, the spending of non-resident tourists who came to Romania accounted for 62% of the total at the national level. Four out of ten non-resident tourists (40.4%) traveled for private purposes, mainly for holidays (55%), for cultural and sporting events (22.6%), and for visiting friends and relatives (10.7%). Private travel includes vacation travel, shopping, cultural and sporting events, visiting friends and relatives, medical treatment, religious pilgrimage, transit, and other activities. Out of the total spending on business travels, in the first half of 2021, the highest share is represented by the accommodation expenses (50.8%), accommodation with breakfast included being the preferred accommodation scheme (89% of the total spending on accommodation). Also, non-resident tourists' spending in restaurants and bars accounted for 18.2%, and shopping represented 14.4% of the total spending during business travels. In addition, of the total shopping expenses, almost half (48.2%) were for the purchase of food and beverages, and 29.6% for the purchase of gifts and souvenirs. At the same time, the non-resident tourists spent a share of 74.5% of the total expenses for transport on renting cars, while their expenses for access to amusement parks, fairs, casinos, game rooms represented 25.8% of the total expenses for recreation. During the second quarter of 2021, more than half (55.2%) of non-resident tourists arriving in Romania aimed at business meetings, their expenses representing 59.8% of the total. At the same time, 44.8% of non-resident tourists traveled for private purposes, mainly for holidays (51%), for cultural and sporting events (26.6%) and for visiting friends and relatives (11.5%). In the reference period, the main share of expenses was represented by accommodation (50.2%), within this type of expenses the accommodation with breakfast included being the preferred scheme (90.5% of the total accommodation expenses). Other types of expenses were: in restaurants and bars (17.9%), for shopping (14.2%), of which 48% for food and beverages, respectively 29.3% for gifts and souvenirs. Expenditures for car rental accounted for 71.8% of total transport expenditures, and expenditures for tickets to museums, tourist attractions, zoos/botanical gardens accounted for 32.5% of total recreational expenditures. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Badea, editor: Oana Tilica, EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)