Almost Half Of Romanians Did Not Go On Holiday Last Year - Survey

05.13.2011 ZF English

Almost half of Romanians (46%) did not take a holiday trip last year, most (62%) because of financial reasons, according to a Eurobarometer survey on the attitudes of Europeans towards tourism, which shows things improved overall in 2010.

As for this year, 33% of the Romanians questioned answered they will spend their holiday inside the country, 19% said they will go to other European Union state, 13% - outside the EU, while 34% will not leave or were not sure. Among those with certain holiday plans, 51% said they will spend it in Romania, 29% in other EU states and 20% outside the EU.

"Respondents in Turkey and Hungary were the most likely to say that they had not travelled for private purposes (68% and 60%, respectively)," says the survey.

In almost every country included in the survey, the majority of respondents who had not taken a holiday in 2010 said this was because of financial reasons; this was the case for more than 6 in 10 respondents in Hungary (68%), Bulgaria (65%) and Romania (62%).

The share of Romanians who said they had taken a short trip or holiday grew to 24% in 2010, from 14% in 2009. Some 15% of Romanians said they had been on a holiday, while 13% said they had taken a short leisure trip.

"In most countries surveyed (25 out of 32), more than half of holidaymakers had organized their holiday individually," says the survey. In Romania, 77% answered they had organized their own holiday, up from 59%.

"Almost 7 in 10 (68%) EU citizens said they had travelled - for private reasons - at least once in 2010," compared to 65% in 2009, which, along with other signs, indicates that tourism appears to have emerged from the economic crisis. When it comes to travel destinations, 58% of tourists (55% of Romanians) prefer "conventional destinations," while 28% are interested in "straying off the beaten track."

Italy was the most popular holiday destination for 2011 mentioned by the participants, with 11.5%. Spain was second with 8.6%, followed by France with 8.2%.

Around 23% of the respondents had not yet decided on their holiday destination.

More than 30,000 citizens older than 15 were interviewed for the survey, selected randomly from the 27 member states, as well as from Norway, Iceland, Croatia, Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.