Romanians use holiday vouchers to pay for 192,000 overnights in summer 2019

Romanians have used holiday vouchers to pay for 192,000 overnights so far this summer season, up 269 percent from 2018, with the Black Sea coast, Prahova Valley, the spa resorts and the main cities being the main attractions, according to data with Travelminit.ro, a hotel reservation platform. 

"While in 2018, Romanians were reluctant to use the holiday vouchers and many of the guesthouses and hotels still did not accept this form of payment, in 2019 are talking about 200,000 overnights booked by Travelminit.ro using holiday vouchers, for bookings and check-ins June 1 to August 31, 2019," the source said. 

The average price paid by Romanian tourists for a vacation using the vouchers was 923 lei. 

Holiday vouchers can be used at any tourist accommodation facility certified by the Ministry of Tourism and in any destination in Romania. Highest in demand tourist areas in Romania remain the Black Sea coast (Mamaia, Eforie Nord, Costinesti), Prahova Valley (Sinaia, Busteni, Predeal, Bran), spa resorts (Sovata, Praid, Baile Herculane and Baile Felix) and historical cities (Sibiu, Sighisoara, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca). 

The most booked types of stays were 2-3-night accommodation weekend breaks for two adults and two children, and 4-5-night accommodation extended holidays for couples, all inclusive. 

According to Travelminit.ro, Romanians on vouchers choose to stay at three-star boarding houses and hotels; 45pct of them choose boarding houses, 28pct hotels and 10pct villas. As many as 45pct of the bookings were made by couples, followed by bookings made by families (30pct) and solo travellers (4pct); 85pct of reservations were made online. 

Pentecost and the Saint Mary's break are the busiest times for Romanian tourism. 

The Travelminit.ro offer comprises 3,500 properties in Romania, including hotels, boarding houses, apartments, guesthouses, cottages and campsites in all regions of the country. 

In 2018, the platform reported 8 million visitors, and a total amount of reservations worth 6 million euros.