Sursa foto: Pexels
After last year’s winter holidays looked quite different from what we were used to, and Christmas and New Year’s Eve were mostly celebrated at home, in small groups, this year, in the context of the recent announcement on the relaxation of restrictions throughout the country, more and more Romanians are making plans to return home in the coming period. Relatively relaxed travel conditions for tourists coming from the European Union and holding a green certificate are helping to reunite families whose members are abroad to work or study. According to a survey by online travel agency Vola.ro, 68% of respondents plan to come home for the holidays, and 44% have already bought tickets to see their loved ones.
At the same time, if before the pandemic, more than 60% of Romanians came home at least twice a year, usually during the holidays and the summer season, in 2021 things were different, with about 40% of the participants in the Vola.ro survey saying they had the opportunity to travel to the country only once, and 16% did not even travel to Romania at all this year.
Potential travel restrictions and unexpected changes have kept Romanians abroad away from home over the past 18 months. 60% of them even cancelled their travel plans at least once for pandemic-related reasons
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According to Vola.ro specialists, the volatility of the period and the risk of quarantine upon arrival in Romania have often kept Romanians abroad from travelling. Some 37% of respondents said that restrictions imposed by the authorities had kept them away from their loved ones at home recently, while another 22% said that the unpredictability of travel had made them reluctant to travel to Romania.
It can be seen that almost 60% of Romanians in the diaspora are afraid of possible overnight changes and quarantine. A previous survey conducted by Vola.ro confirms that Romanians’ fears are well-founded, as one in three flights have suffered schedule changes or even cancellations in the last year, with affected travellers having to wait up to 60 days for reimbursement from airlines. Some 60% of travelers have even cancelled their travel plans at least once for reasons related to the pandemic, such as the introduction of new restrictions that prevented them from travelling, or family illness.
Airfare hikes among reasons for holiday absences
Amid lower demand for flights, but also staff shortages or constant changes to travel rules, airlines have had to cancel some of the flights announced for the autumn-winter season and even raise fares to some destinations to cover the unprecedented losses incurred during the lockdown. Thus, about a quarter of the Romanians who participated in the Vola.ro survey said that the main reason for not travelling to Romania in the last period was the price of air tickets or the lack of convenient flight options to Romania.
“After last year Romanians were unable to spend the winter holidays with their families, this year they want to “get their revenge” and are returning to the country in impressive numbers. Although they are still wary of the possibility of contacting or transmitting the virus, tourists are more fearful of possible restrictions imposed by the authorities, changes that could force them into quarantine when they arrive in the country, or even prevent them from going back abroad.” said Claudia Tocilă, Marketing Director at Vola.ro