Ukrainian Refugees Generate Profit for Romania

The Ukrainian refugees bring EUR 1 billion into the Romanian economy.

If you haven’t heard of refugee tourism, then look at how the war changed the precarious situation of tourism in Romania. Although many wondered that the tourism segment would be affected in neighbouring countries with Ukraine due to the military conflict in the area, it seems that Ukrainian refugees bring the significant contribution to tourism. Whether Ukrainian refugees stay or transit the country, Ukrainians leave a considerable monetary contribution to that country.

This situation, rather strange and paradoxical, can be called refugee tourism. Indeed, the Ukrainians have suffered the most, and their financial situation has been affected, however, many of them have had and still have a very good financial situation. That doesn’t make them really refugees, does it?

The statistics show that tourists contribute EUR 1 billion annually to Romania’s tourism. In this context, Ukrainian refugees that entered Romania doubled this money during the time spent here.

In other words, every Ukrainian who has crossed the borders has left large sums of money, either for accommodation or food or transportation. All this accumulated brought an increase of about EUR one billion. Romania helped the Ukrainian people from the beginning of the war with food, accommodation and other facilities.

Since the war started, more than 1.3 million Ukrainians have crossed the border into Romania, and only approximately 100,000 of them have stayed for more days. These people stimulated private consumption and local businesses, from manufacturers of consumer goods to gas stations, from restaurants to the real estate industry, at an average monthly expenditure comparable to that of a Romanian for each of those who were left in the country and with a temporary consumption generated by those in transit.

Romania has received more than 600,000 refugees from Ukraine. All the money spent by the Ukrainian people is now part of the Romanian economy. It is not a happy contribution due to the circumstances, but we are glad we could help the Ukrainian people overcome this difficult time.