Between 12% and 15% of tourism transport is carried out by buses and coaches, most of which are regular trips, the president of the National Institute of Statistics (INS), Tudorel Andrei, said on Thursday at a specialized event.
”Transportation activity between 2021 and 2024 increased by 35%. That means there is demand, but equally there is supply. What is still happening today, there is this positive reaction from those who have to provide these services. What is very interesting is that spending on transportation has increased by 30% during this period, and 37,000 foreign tourists have resorted to using coaches and buses. And what I think is an interesting figure, between 12% and 15% of tourist transportation is by bus and coach. Most of them are regular trips, organized for these activities”, said Tudorel Andrei.
The head of the INS said that Romania has developed a lot in the area of tourism, with the sector reaching 3% of GDP.
”If a few years ago the tourism industry had a small share in the Gross Domestic Product, in recent years the share is somewhere around 3%, which is a lot. Another interesting indicator is how many people work in tourism directly or indirectly. Estimates at the level of official European statistics are 480,000 people who carry out this activity for themselves or for Romanian or foreign citizens”, said Andrei.
He said tourism is a barometer for a country’s standard of living and level of development.
”As long as the economy grows, so will the appetite for tourism. As long as we have more highways, as long as we have better roads, there is more demand not only from residents but also from non-residents. Fortunately, Romania has also grown a lot from this perspective. I have taken some figures which I find very, very interesting. First of all, how much does it represent, how much has expenditure in the tourist area increased between 2021-2024. This is the post-pandemic period. 40% we have the growth rate for this expenditure. Another interesting aspect is related to – in statistics they call it elasticity or responsiveness – the impact of economic growth or decrease in economic growth rate on tourism activities. In 2021, Romania had a growth of 5.5%, in 2022 tourism expenditure increased by 27%. You’ll see that in 2024 Romania’s GDP only grew by 0.8%, but know that the reaction or impact in tourism was not that big. Spending on tourism increased by 10% compared to 2023,” he argued.
The INS president emphasized that there was a higher growth rate for non-resident tourism in 2024.
”Interestingly, we have a higher growth rate for non-resident tourism. For residents the growth is slightly lower, 8.4 and something, very curious here too. Perhaps the development of services at national level may change this perspective a bit. The impact was smaller on foreign tourism than on domestic tourism. Coming back to the transportation side, after all two services are essential for the tourism business. Quality of transportation and quality of service in restaurants. Transportation has a very high share in the development of this activity and in the statistics there is an indicator, the direct gross value added from tourism – it is 20%. 30-32% is the activity of serving food and drinks. So this means very, very much”, added Tudorel Andrei.
In this context, the INS official said that no matter how attractive the Romanian country may be, tourism can only be realized through the development of the road infrastructure, as it is easy to reach by plane, but the problem is how to make these short trips between the very beautiful places Romania has to offer.
The President of the National Institute of Statistics (NIS), Tudorel Andrei, participated on Thursday at an event where FlixBus, the travel-tech company that operates the most extensive intercity bus network in Europe, announced its expansion on the national market by launching its first routes in Romania. The new routes will be operated in partnership with local carriers and will gradually connect the country’s major cities and tourist destinations, offering an affordable, comfortable and environmentally friendly alternative.
Basically, FlixBus will also operate coach routes between Romanian counties. Starting this summer, FlixBus is launching 10 domestic routes connecting more than 50 cities in Romania. Passengers will be able to travel by coach from Constanța to Timișoara, from Bucharest to Iași or Satu Mare, but also on many other routes that will cross the country from one side to the other, offering a new option for national mobility