Bucharest, Romania's capital and seat of government, serves as the country's primary centre for communications, industry and commerce. The city is home to a growing number of multinational corporations spanning key sectors such as oil, automotive, banking and finance. Bucharest has increasingly established itself as a significant hub for high-tech and telecommunications services, underpinned by the rapid growth of its IT sector, which has helped position Romania as one of the fastest-expanding IT markets in Central and Eastern Europe.
On the political front, Romania's presidential election in late 2024 was annulled by the Constitutional Court following evidence of Russian interference, prompting a rerun held in May 2025. The rerun took place across two rounds, which saw Pro-Western independent candidate Nicu?or Dan defeating far-right nationalist George Simion. The new president went on to broker the formation of a new pro-EU governing coalition, confirming Romania's continued commitment to a pro-European agenda.
Bucharest recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in visitation of 5% between 2015 and 2019, driven by both domestic and international demand, with domestic tourism accounting for around 65% of total visitation. As of 2025, the city’s top international source markets included Germany, Italy, the USA, Israel and the UK – consistent with pre-pandemic trends. While international arrivals grew by 8% in 2025, a decrease in domestic visitation contributed to an overall decrease in total visitation of more than 1% in 2025. Conversely, overnights have increased some 5% year-on-year.
Although the corporate segment remains the dominant demand driver, leisure tourism has been growing in prominence, supported in part by Danube River cruise traffic. Hotel occupancy had risen steadily over the decade preceding the pandemic, settling in the low 70% range in the years immediately before its onset. Following the severe downturns of 2020 and 2021, Bucharest's hotel market staged a strong recovery in 2022, with meaningful gains in both occupancy and average rate. This positive trajectory carried through into 2023, 2024 and 2025, all delivering double-digit RevPAR growth. Albeit taking more time than other European markets, occupancy levels returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2025, helping RevPAR surpass pre-pandemic levels for the first time, in real terms. We note that this is true in euro and helped by the currency changes, but in local currency the RevPAR is about 30% below real growth.
Over the coming years, Bucharest is set to see the addition of some 2,700 hotel rooms, representing a potential increase of more than 20% in total supply. Notably, more than 70% of the pipeline is concentrated in the upscale and upper-upscale segments, reflecting a shift toward higher-end offerings in the market. Key developments include the 104-room Mondrian Bucharest (March 2027), the 219-room Swissôtel Bucharest (March 2027) and the 270-room Wyndham Garden (H2 2027).
The investment landscape did not see much activity in 2025. The only transaction reported was the sale of the Amstar portfolio consisting of two Duke hotels – the 40-room Duke Romana and the 33-room Duke Armeneasca – for an undisclosed sum.
According to our 2026 European Hotel Valuation Index (HVI), hotel values in Bucharest rose by 4.6% in euro terms in 2025. Despite this growth, values remain 8% below their 2019 peak.
