Romania’s full accession to the Schengen area from January 1, 2025 opens new horizons for Romanian tourism and facilitates both the citizens’ trips and the development of the tourism sector by attracting more foreign tourists, according to representatives of the National Association of. Travel Agencies in Romania (ANAT).
„Joining the Schengen Area is very important for Romanians, from a tourist point of view. We all remember the queues of dozens of hours during the pandemic, when entering Greece. They have remained in the collective mind. Now we can enter Bulgaria and Greece without waiting times and the traffic to these destinations will certainly increase. Tourist traffic to the West will also increase, so for us, for Romanians, this is an extraordinary thing,” said Alin Burcea, president of ANAT.
In his turn, Adrian Voican, vice-president of the Association and chairman of the Incoming committee, said that Romania is going in the right direction in terms of tourism and transport infrastructure development, and that in the last 20 years it has progressed „step by step”. „However, we still have a long way to go before reaching the potential of attracting foreign tourists to Romania. We need a serious multi-year tourism promotion budget, a minimum of 30 million euros for each of the next 10 years, which could bring, over time, billions of euros more to the country’s budget. Such an opportunity for Romanian tourism in particular and for Romania’s economy in general is not to be missed,” Voican added.
Recent statistics show that around 1.2 million Romanian tourists go to Greece and almost one million to Bulgaria every year.
According to ANAT, the removal of borders could stimulate a significant increase in these figures, and according to tour operators’ estimates, Romanian tourist traffic could increase by at least 15% in 2025, due to free access and streamlined road transport.
„Eliminating land border controls will make travel faster and cheaper for Romanian tourists who prefer to travel by car, bus or train. This may increase interest in spontaneous vacations in Europe. Many Romanian tourists might choose city breaks in cities such as Vienna, Budapest, Paris, Barcelona, Barcelona, Rome or Bratislava, due to ease of traveling. Eliminating control formalities also means shorter travel times and savings on logistical costs, which can lead to more advantageous tourist packages for Romanians. A concrete example is the Easter and summer vacation period, when kilometer-long queues at the Kulata – Promachonas customs are a common occurrence. Without controls, lost time will be reduced and the tourist experience will be more pleasant. Full Schengen membership will not only boost outbound tourism, but also incoming tourism,” says ANAT.
Data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS) show that the number of foreign tourists who arrived in Romania in 2023 stood at about 2.1 million, and 1.83 million in the first nine months of 2024.
AGERPRES
