Tourism Demand in Romania Manuela Sofia STĂNCULESCU1 Research Institute for the Quality of Life, Romanian Academy University of Bucharest Monica MARIN2 Research Institute for the Quality of Life, Romanian Academy Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the evolution and main characteristics of tourism in Romania from the demand side. The study is organized in two parts.The first part focuses on the holiday trips of at least one overnight stay. The approach is comparative, Romania being benchmarked against the EU-27 average. The analysis shows that the touristic demand in Romania has followed a trend parallel with the GDP curve as the touristic demand is strongly correlated with the level of population disposable income. The second part of the analysis refers to the same-day trips (with no overnight stay). Among the same-day visits of the Romanian residents, the domestic trips predominate by far. Main purposes include visiting relatives or friends, shopping, leisure and recreation (including picnic) or medical treatment. Key words: tourism; tourism demand; holiday trips; same-day trips. Introduction This paper analyzes the statistics in the field of tourism from the demand side. ‘Tourist’ is considered here in line with the definition adopted at the UN Conference on Tourism and International Travel (Rome, 1963), as completed at the International Conference on Travel and Tourism Statistics in Ottawa (Canada, 1991), which has been implemented by Eurostat at the European level since 2004. Thus, ‘tourism means the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes’3 (Eurostat, 2011). ‘Tourist’ or ‘visitor’ is any person travelling to a place other than that of his/her usual environment for less than 1 Senior Researcher with the Research Institute for the Quality of Life, the Romanian Academy and associated professor at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Assistance, University of Bucharest. Contact address: Research Institute for the Quality of Life, Romanian Academy, Calea 13 septembrie, no. 13, 050718, Bucharest, Romania, e-mail: [email protected]. 2 Researcher with the Research Institute for the Quality of Life, the Romanian Academy, Contact address: Research Institute for the Quality of Life, Romanian Academy, Calea 13 septembrie, no. 13, 050718, Bucharest, Romania, e-mail: [email protected]. 3 Other purposes may include rest and recreation, visiting friends and relatives, health treatment, religion/pilgrimages, professional or cultural purposes, etc. Revista Română de Statistică Trim III/2012- Supliment 41 twelve months and whose main purpose of trip is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.4 The study focuses on the domestic tourism, which ‘comprises the activities of residents of a given country travelling to and staying in places only within that country but outside their usual environment’ (Eurostat, 2011). However, data about the outbound tourism (trips abroad made by the Romanian residents) are also discussed. The analysis is organized in two sections. The first refers to holiday trips, which by definition require the tourist stays at least one night in a collective or private accommodation in the place/country visited. The second section presents data on the same-day trips (with no overnight stay). Holiday trips in Romania 2004-2010 This section is based on the survey ‘Tourism demand of the residents in Romania’, implemented annually by the National Institute for Statistics (NIS), since 2004. The survey is representative at the national level for the population aged 15 years and over. In recent years, in Europe, all types of tourism (short, long, domestic, outbound) have registered positive growth. This is not the case in Romania. In spite of the decision-makers’ rhetoric and of the increasing investments in this industry, the number of holiday trips of the Romanian residents was only 5% larger in 2010 compared to 2004 (11.55 compared with 11 million trips). Actually, it registered a considerable drop in 2006, after which it increased until 2009 when decreased again, most probably, as an effect of the international financial crisis. Table 1 Evolution of holiday trips of Romanian residents 2004-2010 (thousands) Increase in the number of trips over the period (%) 200 201 201 6- 0- 0- 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 200 200 200 4 6 4 All holiday - 60 trips, of 11.005 9.226 7.210 10.182 10.633 12.527 11.547 34 5% % which: % Trip destination Domestic - 61 (within 10.520 8.735 6.688 9.294 9.716 11.651 10.797 36 3% % Romania) % Outbound 44 55 485 492 522 888 917 876 750 8% (abroad) % % Trip duration Short - 87 holiday trips 6.756 5.369 3.824 4.780 5.159 7.107 7.144 43 6% % (1-3 nights) % 4 Eurostat, metadata: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/EN/tour_dem_esms.htm 42 Revista Română de Statistică Trim. III/2012 - Supliment Increase in the number of trips over the period (%) 200 201 201 6- 0- 0- 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 200 200 200 4 6 4 Long holiday - 30 trips (4 or 4.249 3.857 3.387 5.402 5.474 5.420 4.403 20 4% % more nights) % Types of holiday trips Long - 28 domestic 3.949 3.496 2.977 4.644 4.687 4.737 3.800 25 -4% % holidays % Long 36 47 101 outbound 300 361 410 757 787 682 602 % % % holidays Short - 89 domestic 6.571 5.239 3.711 4.650 5.029 6.913 6.997 44 6% % holidays % Short - - 31 outbound 185 130 113 130 130 194 147 39 20 % holidays % % Data: Eurostat. Notes: Holiday trips with any purpose: leisure, rest and recreation, visiting friends and relatives, business, professional, treatment, religious, cultural etc. Are not included the trips having as purpose a remunerated activity as well as the trips without overnight stay in the visited place. Compared with 2004, in 2010, Romanians made only 6% more short domestic trips, but 4% less long domestic holidays and 20% less short trips abroad. Only the long outbound tourism (trips abroad of at least 4 overnight stays) has seen a constant and substantial growth. However, in terms of volume, this segment represents only 5% of all holiday trips of at least one overnight stay made by Romania’s residents in 2010. 1% 5% Romania, 2010 EU‐27, 2010 26% 33% 51% 61% 18% 5% Long domestic holidays Long outbound holidays Long domestic holidays Long outbound holidays Short domestic holidays Short outbound holidays Short domestic holidays Short outbound holidays D Figure 1 Shares by length and destination of holiday trips made by Romanian and EU-27 residents Data: Eurostat for Romania and Eurostat (2011) for EU-27. Revista Română de Statistică Trim III/2012- Supliment 43 The small overall growth of the total number of holiday trips by 5% over the period 2004 to 2010 was mainly due to the growth (by 6%) in the segment of short domestic trips, which in terms of volume predominate by far the Romanian tourism. As the above figure shows, the segment of short domestic holidays accounted in 2010 for 61% of all holiday trips, compared with 51% the EU-27 average. Thus, Romanians are still much less likely than other Europeans to spend holidays abroad, although the segment of outbound tourism has considerably increased in volume (by 55% over the period 2004 to 2010). Table 2 Share of domestic holiday trips in all holiday trips and in long holiday trips, Romania (%) 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Share of domestic trips in all trips 96 95 93 91 91 93 94 Share of long domestic trips in all long trips 93 91 88 86 86 87 86 Data: Eurostat. Over the entire period, 9 out of 10 holiday trips made by Romanians had a destination within the country borders. With 61% of the holiday trips being short domestic trips and 33% being long domestic trips (in 2010), destinations within the country dominate beyond a doubt in Romanians’ holiday choices. This is commune to most European countries.5 Nonetheless, the share of domestic holiday trips is much higher in Romania compared to the EU-27 average (94% versus 77%, in 2010). The preference for domestic holidays is manifest both for short (1-3 overnight stays) and long (4 or more nights) trips. Figure 2 Share of domestic holiday trips in all holiday trips and in long holiday trips, 2010 Data: Eurostat (2011), p.1. Note: 2009 data for IE and IT. 5 Only residents of the Netherlands, Slovenia, Belgium and Luxembourg tended to spend more holiday trips abroad than at home. (Eurostat, 2011) 44 Revista Română de Statistică Trim. III/2012 - Supliment Characteristics of the domestic holiday trips The standard European survey on tourism demand includes some information regarding accommodation, mode of transportation, and expenditures. However, each country may tailor the national survey according to its conditions and priorities. The Romanian survey included data about accommodation only in 2005-2007 and has not considered mode of transportation. However, it provides data about the touristic area of destination and trip organizer. Table 3 Characteristics of domestic holiday trips made by Romanian residents 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 All domestic holiday trips, of which: Number 10.519.668 8.734.554 6.688.193 9.294.237 9.716.392 11.650.634 % 100 100 100 100 100 100 Trip duration (%) Short holiday trips (1-3 61,3 59,1 54,6 49,3 50,9 58,9 overnight stays) Long holiday trips (4 or 38,7 40,9 45,4 50,7 49,1 41,1 more nights) Trip organizer (%) On own account 93,2 93,8 94,1 93,3 94,6 95,0 Travel agencies 2,4 2,2 2,5 3,2 2,7 2,4 Others 4,4 4,0 3,4 3,5 2,7 2,7 Touristic areas of destination (%) Mountain 18,1 18,9 19,4 25,0 25,5 25,1 Seaside 11,0 11,7 12,3 15,5 14,5 12,6 Spas 1,9 1,8 3 2,4 2,6 2,5 Danube Delta 0,6 0,4 0,6 0,9 0,4 0,9 Diverse circuits 1,5 1,1 1,2 1,1 0,9 0,8 Other touristic areas 66,9 66,0 63,5 55,1 56,2 58,1 Data: NIS (2010).