Three out of four Romanians who will spend their holidays abroad this summer have chosen countries such as Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey and Italy, and 54.5 percent have preferred to travel by their personal car, according to a survey conducted by CEC Bank in partnership with the financial portal FinZoom.ro, the Romanian agency Agerpres reported for BTA.
Every sixth of the respondents chooses to spend their holidays outside Romania, according to a statement from CEC Bank.
Greece is the country where most Romanians have chosen to spend their holidays abroad, respectively 26 percent of the respondents, while over 17 percent have chosen Bulgaria, 15.4 percent will go to Turkey and 13 percent to Italy. The share is lower in countries such as Spain (7 percent), Egypt (5 percent) and France (2.5 percent).
When it comes to choosing the means of transport to go on holiday, 54.5 percent of respondents prefer their personal car, while the train is chosen by 22.42 percent, and buses and planes - by only 12 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
When asked "Where do you get money for your holiday?", over 77 percent of respondents said they save money in advance throughout the year. Much fewer (9 percent) borrow money from friends, just under 7 percent say they use holiday vouchers to pay for their holiday, and nearly 5 percent use a credit card/overdraft. Very few – 2 percent say they receive vacation bonuses from their employer.
As for the amount of money set aside for vacation, 42 percent of respondents say their budget has shrunk by 10 to 30 percent compared to last year, while for every fourth Romanian the amount is similar to last year. Only about 10 percent of Romanians will set aside 10 to 30 percent more compared to last year.
When asked how they will make payments during vacation, over 38 percent of respondents say they will pay in cash, while about 22 percent indicate that they will use a combination of cash and card payments, whether with a debit or credit card. Just over 17 percent will pay only with a debit card and in cash, nearly 6 percent - only with a credit card and just over 5 percent - only with a credit card and in cash.
The survey was conducted online, by the financial portal FinZoom, commissioned by CEC Bank, on a representative sample of about 1,200 respondents from across the country, representative of Internet users. Fifty-eight percent of the respondents are employees, over 70 percent live in the city, 40 percent have higher or postgraduate education.