Romania Tourism Report Q1 2009

The most recent data for the first nine months of 2008 show continuing buoyant growth in foreign visitor arrivals, up 20.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) to nearly 6.9mn visitors, although the growth rate has slowed during the course of the year. Almost 95% of arrivals came from European countries, while 62.2% were from the EU member states. Hungary accounted for the largest proportion of visitors (some 34% of the total). Romanian departures abroad were up nearly 21% y-o-y to 10.2mn over the same period.

Hospitality Latest official figures for the period January to September 2008 suggest that the hospitality sector is in for a disappointing year, compared with the buoyancy of 2007. Data show that tourism nights in all accommodation establishments amounted to almost 16.7mn (foreign and domestic tourists), up just 1% compared with the same period a year earlier. Foreign tourists, however, recorded a 5.6% y-o-y decline in overnight stays to about 2.7mn (some 16% of the total). In line with this fall, foreign visitor arrivals in collective accommodation establishments also declined, by over 4% y-o-y to around 1.2mn visitors (some 21% of total arrivals). Hotel occupancy rates were 36.4%, which was slightly weaker y-o-y.

Forecast Scenario Although growth in foreign visitor arrivals is expected to remain robust in 2008, the rate of growth is set to be markedly lower than in the previous year. Moreover, BMI anticipates a further slowdown in growth in 2009, with the growth rate expected to pick up in the following year. The outlook derives largely from downward revisions this quarter to real GDP growth in the eurozone – the major source of arrivals in Romania – along with a forecast of modest economic growth over the short term in Hungary.

Tarom Figures for the first nine months of 2008 for the national flag carrier, Tarom, record a moderation in the growth of passenger numbers (compared with very strong growth in 2007), with a 10% y-o-y increase to almost 1.4mn. Moreover, in recent months, growth has been especially weak, with traffic up just 1.4% yo- y in August, while in September passenger numbers declined 1.6% y-o-y.

Wizz Air Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air will add three new Airbus A320 aircraft and double its capacity in Romania in the coming months. The first new aircraft will be operated from Timisoara (Wizz Air’s 10th base and third in Romania) from February 2009. The new routes from Timisoara will be to London, Dortmund, Rome, Milan, Venice, Barcelona, Paris and Valencia. Operations in Bucharest will also be expanded with a new A320 aircraft, providing increased frequencies on existing services and new routes from Bucharest to Madrid, Paris and Bologna, from March 2009. Cluj-Napoca will also receive an A320 aircraft from May 2009. The new capacity will be deployed for increasing frequencies on the current network and opening new routes from Cluj-Napoca to Paris, Madrid, Bologna and Venice.

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