Schengen-effect. Romanians love to visit Hungarian spas, and the number of tickets sold at the Gyula Castle Bath Aquapalace increased by 22 percent in January. The photo is an illustration
Fotó: Pinti Attila
Romania's accession to the Schengen area of the European Union this year meant a two-way increase in traffic free from internal border controls: spa tourism in Hungary and shopping tourism in Romania increased in January. The impact of the Schengen Agreement’s expansion has been clearly visible, but now statistical data in Hungary demonstrates the resulting boost in tourism in 2025.
2025. március 09., 12:332025. március 09., 12:33
One month after Romania's accession to the Schengen zone, on January 31, the inaugural meeting of the European Territorial Grouping (EGTC), initiated by five Hungarian and five Romanian settlements along the border, was held in Battonya, Békés County (Hungary). Among those present at the meeting was Ernő Görgényi, Mayor of Gyula, who we also talked to at the end of the event about whether the spa town’s foreign tourism – where Romanians had been visiting with pleasure even before Schengen entry – had felt the effects of the newly-introduced free border passage.
„For now, we only have the visitor numbers of the Gyula Castle Bath available. Based on this, we can see that the spa received the highest number of January visitors of the past decade. Compared to last year's very strong January ticket count, there was a 22 percent increase, which we can clearly attribute to the Schengen accession. The number of Romanian guests increased the most,” Ernő Görgényi told Krónika at the time.
Since then, official Hungarian statistical data has also been published, which was reported by the Békés Vármegyei Hírportál (Békés County News Portal) beol.hu:
The number of domestic (Hungarian) guests also increased the most in Gyula and its region, by 16 percent. But not only the number and proportion of foreign and domestic visitors, but also the number of foreign guest nights increased the most in Gyula and its region, by 45 percent, compared to the same month of the previous year.
Today, it is no longer a big deal to look out at Romania from Hungary
Fotó: Pataky Lehel Zsolt
Aliz Komoróczki, managing director of Gyula Tourism Nonprofit Ltd., told beol.hu about the reasons for the results: „Gyula and its region offers a year-round destination, with numerous high-quality activities awaiting guests and tourists in every season. (…) In line with the program offering, hotel guests can also take advantage of high-quality services at the accommodations. Guests are provided with activities and gastronomic experiences that make rest and relaxation attractive even in winter.
It is now much faster and easier to cross the border for our most important source of tourists from Romania, shortening the duration of the trip and reducing the “tensions” associated with the excursion.”
As we reported earlier, Romania's accession to the Schengen zone has made life doubly easier for those living along the Romanian-Hungarian border: the elimination of regular checks not only means faster border crossings, but the availability of side roads (previously only open for limited amounts of time) for crossing the border offering alternative routes, thus shortening not only the travel time but also the distance. The border crossing between Dombegyház in Békés County, Hungary and Kisvarjas (Variașu Mic) in Arad County, Romania has been freely usable since January 1st of this year, and thus the distance between Dombegyház and Arad has been reduced to 19 kilometers (until 2025, the trip was nearly 40 km via the Battonya-Tornya border crossing).
Hungarian shoppers are mainly looking for basic groceries
Fotó: Rostás Szabolcs
Even before Schengen accession – when the Kisvarjas border crossing was only open on Saturdays – it was possible to meet Hungarians living near the border who regularly travelled to Arad to do their shopping. Lajos Krista, a resident of Dombegyháza, said in a previous report that he usually does his shopping every two weeks because basic groceries are usually cheaper in Romanian supermarkets, and there are other products that cost less than in Hungary due to the lower VAT.
The residents of the micro-region have been waiting for the free use of the route between Feketegyarmat (Iermata Neagră) in Arad County and Dénesmajor in Békés County since 2012. From January 1st of this year, this route has been very clearly made use of. “There is even traffic at night,” Róbert Téglás, deputy mayor of the Nagyzerénd (Zerind) municipality (under whose administration Feketegyarmat belongs to), told Krónika. As he put it, the end of border stops has made things much easier for those living in the area. „The distance from the center of Nagyzerénd to the center of Gyula is 25 kilometers. Up until 2025, from Gyulavarsánd (Vărșand), it was almost 50. A lot of people from Zerénd have moved to Gyula, Sarkad or Doboz, and it is now easier for them to visit their homes,” the deputy mayor said.
Market day in the main square of Pécska
Fotó: Pataky Lehel Zsolt
In the parking lot of a supermarket in Pécska (Pecica), Arad County, last Saturday, a correspondent from the Agerpres national news agency of Romania counted 11 cars with Hungarian license plates out of 40; in other words, a quarter of the customers came from across the border. Residents mainly come to Pécska from Battonya to shop (including the original residents, not just those who moved out of Arad County in the past fifteen years due to lower real estate prices).
A retired Hungarian couple filled their shopping cart with, among other things:
„We have many Romanian neighbors in Battonya, with whom we are on good terms, and they advised us to come over to shop. Indeed, many things are 20-30 percent cheaper – for example, I found canned dog food at half the price than back home. It's a twenty-kilometer journey, so it's worth it,” they said.
„We bought garden tools at the market for half the price [than in Hungary], and we found flour 40 percent cheaper in the store; but cooking oil, meat, eggs and milk, for example, also cost less. If I calculate correctly, on average we end up buying at least twenty percent cheaper here,” said the young man.
Heading to Romania!
Fotó: Pataky Lehel Zsolt
There are no issues with language miscommunications as there are many ethnic Hungarians living in Pécska, so there are many Hungarians working in stores. Moreover, some of the shoppers from Hungary can speak Romanian at a basic level. According to Mayor Péter Antal, Hungarians used to come here to shop in large numbers even before the Schengen accession, but their number has noticeably increased since January 1.
The mayor of Nagypél (Pilu) on the Romanian-Hungarian border, Casian Toma, went on to say that the nearby Gyulavarsánd (Vărșand), known for its border crossing, has also become a destination for Hungarian shoppers. “The other day we were on a mission with the volunteer fire brigade in Varsánd, and on our way home we stopped at a supermarket, and the store was full of Hungarian customers. Many people come from Gyula or the Elek area just to fuel up their cars,” he said.
As we reported, the neighboring cities of Pécska and Battonya are jointly seeking funding to restore the historic road between the two settlements, which would reduce the distance to 12 kilometers, and they are also planning to launch a scheduled bus service between the two cities.
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