Romania crossed a new tourism milestone in 2025, with spending by foreign visitors climbing above 5 billion euro. That puts the country on the fastest growth path in the European Union over the past decade, according to Colliers.
Although 2025 saw a slight decline of nearly 4% versus the previous year, the longer-term picture remains positive. The first quarter of 2026 also showed momentum, with foreign tourist spending rising by more than 8% year on year.
U.S. tourists lead
Tourists from the United States, Germany, the UK and Italy accounted for the biggest share of spending in Romania last year. Together, they spent almost 2 billion euro, or around 40% of the total.
For the first time, American tourists were the biggest spenders, at 554 million euro, narrowly ahead of German tourists at 546 million euro and British tourists at 518 million euro. Italian tourists were close behind at 463 million euro.
At the same time, Japanese tourists recorded one of the strongest performances of the past decade, with their spending 13 times higher than in 2016, even though they started from a lower base than the main source markets.
Romania still has room to grow
Even with strong growth, Romania still remains smaller than regional peers such as Hungary, Czechia and Poland in absolute tourism spending. Romania only slightly exceeds Bulgaria in absolute terms, while Hungary and Czechia attract around 8-9 billion euro annually from international tourism, and Poland reaches almost 14 billion euro.
Hotel market expands
Romania could add more than 5,000 hotel rooms by the end of the decade if announced projects are delivered. That would expand existing stock by around 5%, with most of the new supply concentrated in the 4 and 5-star segment.
Around 42,000 rooms currently sit in the upscale hotel stock, and many of the upcoming projects involve international brands entering the market for the first time. Those include The Hoxton, Hyatt, Kempinski, Hotel Indigo, AC Hotels by Marriott, The Crest Collection and The Julius.
