At the end of the Cold War when Eastern Europe freed itself from the iron grip of Communism, Western investors flocked to the region.
But while Eastern Europe offered a steady return, Western money increasingly looked to the limitless potential of China and India.
If these investors did take their eye off the ball for a couple of years, it is firmly back on this region which is now enjoying substantial annual growth. As the economies of countries like Romania expand each year, so do the business travel markets.
Romania's economy grew by 7.6% last year and is on course to expand by 6.5% this year. In the first half of 2006, the number of airline tickets issued by HRG Romania grew by 30% compared with 2006.
BA, Lufthansa, Iberia and Air France/KLM all offer a growing number of daily flights to the capital Bucharest.
The growth figures for Lufthansa are remarkable. In March it increased its frequencies by 24% from 54 to 66 weekly flights. From the UK, its passengers have risen by 119% in January-May this year compared to the same months in 2006. Overall the number or of passengers it carries to the country has risen by 43% from 2006 to 2007.
Besides the traditional carriers, there is also a strong and growing market for the LCCs - and the potential is significant. Whereas 25% of West Europeans make a minimum of one trip a year, the figure for Eastern Europe is 3%.
The growth in business to Romania is reflected in the expansion of the country's business travel market. It began to take off for the first time in the mid-1990s - before that it was mainly government ministers and officials who travelled.
Aurel Pavel, president of HRG Romania, said that some clients have increased their volume ten times since those early days. "You can see that business travel is growing by the number of flights. But another sector which is growing is MICE. We have done four big trips out of Romania this year," Mr Pavel said.
While his offices in Bucharest and four other centres in the country are having sophisticated back office software installed to automate the booking and reporting process, Mr Pavel said that the use of self booking tools (SBTs) was not high.
"They prefer to have an agent. We have two implants, one with three staff and the other with five. Clients are very busy - they don't have time to look on the Internet. They prefer their secretary to contact us. 95% of requests come by e-mail or in a written form, unless it is an emergency."
HRG is one of the larger travel management companies in Romania along with American Express and Carlson Wagonlit Travel. HRG, Mr Pavel said, has about 12-15% of the market.
He founded the company in 1990, shortly after the revolution in 1989 and became an HRG partner in 2000. His clients include multi-nationals like Philip Morris and Deloitte but also a growing number of Romanian companies. Mr Pavel said he has 20-25 major clients, some of whom are local companies.
"More and more Romanian companies are travelling more and more," he said.
The business is dominated by the sale of air tickets. The larger companies negotiate deals and most travellers have flexible tickets in premium economy.
His hotels and car bookings are smaller with many companies booking their own accommodation. Rail tickets currently have to be booked in person at the station although that will change next year.
He said there had been two great benefits from the HRG partnership. One was the global clients the deal had brought him, among them GSK, Hewlett Packard and Dupont.
The second was the new level of standards, technologies, strategic procedures and ideas the agreement provided.
One outcome is the emphasis Mr Pavel puts on communications with his clients with meetings every three months to iron out any problems.
It has also eased his transformation from a company dependent on commission to one that chargers fees.
The strategy seems to be paying off. He estimated he saved his clients €400,000 last year.
And for the moment the outlook is rosy. "I am very confident that business travel will go on growing. It may be that we will see Internet tools and self booking tools develop
and we will see that as a challenge to us. But I am pretty sure business travel will go on growing," he said.