Citizens from Great Britain and Ukraine, who entered Romania in March and April, were the foreigners who spent the most.
Together, they made over 123 thousand card transactions (123,581), worth almost 16.5 million lei (16,431,491 lei), according to Global Payments.
Tourists and expats from UK spent the most money in Romania in March and April. They made card payments of over 9.3 million lei through Global Payments terminals.
In March, Ukrainian citizens were the ones who spent the most money in Romania. That is a record of 4.25 million lei and almost 34 thousand transactions.
The record expenditure of Ukrainian citizens is, of course, linked to the large number of refugees who arrived in Romania in March and April.
According to the Romanian Border Police, since the onset of the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, until 08.05.2022, 891,726 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania.
On average, in March, Ukrainian citizens spent over 125 lei on each transaction, decreasing to 108 lei per transaction in April 2022.
The expenses of British tourists and expats, who made average transactions of 138.5 lei in March and about 154 lei in April.
According to Global Payments, Ukrainian citizens paid by card, mainly, products purchased from supermarkets and pharmacies. They also bought fuel, engine oil or other consumables and car items, but also paid for clothes or accommodation.
The Czechs are the ones who made the largest average card transactions in Romania – of almost 1,900 lei in March and over 1,600 lei in April.
Those who came from the other neighboring countries spent considerably lower amounts in Romania in April.
Citizens of Hungary made card payments worth 915,740 lei, those from Moldova spent 477,891 lei and Bulgarians 371,876 lei.