Foreign tourists who visited Romania in 2014 spent close to EUR 1.15 billion, 6.2% more than in 2013, according to data released by Romania’s National Statistics Institute (INS).

However, considering that the total number of foreign tourists increased by 11.5%, the average spending per tourists declined last year.

A total of 1.91 million foreigners came to Romania as tourists in 2014, each of them spending an average of EUR 600. In 2013, the number of visitors was 1.71 million, but the average spending was a little over EUR 630.

More than 60% of the foreign tourists said they came to Romania for business, and less than 40% came for personal purposes. The private travels include holidays, shopping, sports and cultural events, visiting friends and relatives, medical treatment, and other activities.

Almost half of the EUR 1.15 billion that foreign tourists spent in Romania in 2014 went on accommodation (breakfast included). The remaining half represents money spent in bars and restaurants, transport expenditures, shopping, recreation and others.

Romania is last in the European Union in terms of tourism revenues (from foreigners) related to GDP. In 2013, Romania’s receipts from tourism were only 0.8% of GDP (some EUR 1.08 billion), according to Eurostat data. For comparison, Bulgaria had tourism revenues of over EUR 3 billion, representing 7.7% of GDP.

Spain had the highest revenues from international tourism, of EUR 45.5 billion (4.4% of its GDP), followed by France (EUR 42.2 billion – 2.1% of GDP) and Italy (EUR 33 billion – 2.1% of GDP).

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com