The year 2024 and, by extension, 2025 will remain in the history of travel as the years in which the Romanians have earned their right to travel without controls to Schengen states and the years they received green to travel to China, Thailand, Turkey and the USA.
Airline tickets have been easily cheaper in January compared last year
The impact of these news has been seen in reservations in January, Vola.ro registering twice as many reservations to China, three times more reservations to Thailand and 14% more to the US.
For the 8th year in a row, Vola.ro completed the analysis of air ticket reservations in January, a month known as cheap January or the most suitable period to book air tickets at the lowest prices.
Growth and diversification of destinations
In January 2025, the Romanians made reservations to 380 different destinations, 10% more than the previous year. Among the most popular destinations were European capitals such as London, Paris and Brussels, but there were less traditional destinations that have experienced spectacular growth due to introducing new routes such as: Leipzig +1300%, Shanghai +600%, Doha +350% and Krabi +300%. These increases show an increasing interest for exotic and emerging destinations, but also the desire to discover new routes introduced by airlines.
“This year, the cheap January brings for the first time two relevant conclusions for the Romanians: a greater diversification of the chosen destinations and a significant increase in demand for countries that have eliminated visas for Romanian citizens.
Another important aspect is to stabilize the average price of air tickets this month. We are not talking about alarming growths or major oscillations, which offers predictability and more safety in travel planning.”Said Claudia Tocilă, marketing director Vola.ro
Romanians use the airports in the country fully
The larger number of routes and the richer offer of airlines operating internal flights between the main cities in Romania or to the European capitals using the smaller airports in the country has led to a significant increase in regional flow. Airports like Bacău, Oradea, Brașov and Constanța registered up to 80%.
Regarding travel preferences, 52% of reservations were for tickets only, and 48% for return tickets, which suggests a preference for more flexible or short-term travel.
Twice more plane ticket reservations to China and three times more to Thailand.
Another notable aspect was the increase of ticket sales to the destinations that gave up visas. The United States, Turkey, Thailand and China have registered significant sales increases, which shows that Romanians are increasingly attracted to these destinations, in the context of relaxing visa requirements. The most important growth was observed for Thailand, which has recorded almost 2.6 times more air tickets sold, but also for China, the number of air tickets to Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzen and other main airports in China being twice. More than last year.
The growth of air tickets for the US is 14%, but Vola specialists expect significant changes in the coming months.
Travelers’ behavior: first tickets, sold right on New Year’s Eve
Some travelers began their year with well-established plans, the first reservation being made on January 1 at 00:03 on the Madrid-Bucharest route, followed by a few minutes from the first reservation from Romania, the Bucharest-Stuttgart route.
The long -stay plane ticket to the destination was to Tenerife and included a period of almost a year between departure and return.
