RSS
Tourism : Eurostat: Majority of Romanians cannot afford a one-week holiday
For many people in the European Union (EU), summer means holidays and travel. However, around a third (32.9%) of the EU population cannot afford a one-week annual holiday away from home. Slightly more households with dependent children (34.6%) than those without (31.3%) find themselves in this situation.
Sweden (8.2%), ahead of Luxembourg (13.1% in 2015), Denmark (13.7%), Finland (14.2%), Austria (15.4%) and the Netherlands (16.2%) were the EU Member States with the lowest percentage of people unable to afford such a one-week holiday.
At the opposite end of the scale, more than 6 in 10 people could not afford a one-week annual holiday away from home in Romania (66.6%) and Croatia (62.8%). Over half the population in Bulgaria (56.4%), Greece (53.6%), Cyprus (53.5% in 2015) and Hungary (50.7%) were also in this position.
Over the last five years, the proportion unable to afford a one-week annual holiday away from home decreased in all Member States, except Cyprus (from 47.6% in 2011 to 53.5% in 2015), Denmark (from 10.5% in 2011 to 13.7% in 2016) and Greece (from 51.2% in 2011 to 53.6% in 2016).
The most notable decrease was registered in Latvia (from 63.4% in 2011 to 37.1% in 2016, or -26.3 percentage points – pp), followed by Poland (-19.3 pp), Estonia (-18.6 pp), Bulgaria (-16.9 pp), Malta (-16.7 pp) and Hungary (-15.6 pp).
At EU level, the share of population who could not afford a one-week annual holiday away from home decreased by 5.1 percentage points between 2011 and 2016, from 38.0% to 32.9%.