How much money will the urban Romanians spend for Christmas and New Year’s Eve?

Romanians living in large cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants will spend more money for this year’s Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Their budget for the winter holidays will amount to some RON 1,698 (EUR 377) on average, up 4.4% compared to the budget allocated last year, according to a study from Mednet Marketing Research Center, cited by local News.ro. The survey was carried out on 800 Romanians living in small, medium, and large cities, between November 23 and November 28. The study shows that the average budget the urban Romanians will allocate for this year’s Christmas and New Year’s Eve amounts to some RON 1,660 (EUR 368). Nearly three quarters will spend between RON 1,000 (some EUR 220) and RON 3,000 (EUR 665) whereas some 20% will allocate a budget of less that RON 1,000. Most of the money will be spent on food and non-food products, namely an average of RON 649 (EUR 145) on food, and some RON 430 (EUR 95) on non-food products. When it comes to Christmas gifts, the urban Romanians plan to spend some RON 565 (EUR 125) for them, on average. The respondents who plan to spend the winter holidays travelling will spend some RON 784 (EUR 175) on these trips. Moreover, those who plan to go out in this period will take some RON 288 (EUR 64) out of their pockets. Slightly over a third of respondents plan to buy a natural Christmas tree this year, more than half already have an artificial tree, and some 5% don’t intend to adorn a tree this year. When it comes to the New Year’s Eve, most urban Romanians (80.9%) plan to celebrate it in the country, and only 2% will go abroad. Some 4% of respondents will work on New Year’s Eve. According to ING’s third annual survey of Christmas spending, 19% of Romanians said they went into debt last year to pay for Christmas, the figure being almost double compared to the European average of 10%. Beautiful Christmas fairs in Romania for all those who want to be Santa Claus this year Winter special: 10 things to do at the Bucharest Christmas Market Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com