The number of foreign tourists who checked into Romanian hotels increased by a modest 1.3% in 2018 compared to 2017, to 2.79 million.

The number of nights spent edged up even less, by 0.7% to 5.3 million, resulting in an average stay of less than 2 nights.

Some three-quarters of the tourists came to the capital city Bucharest, with the other relevant destinations being Constanta, Brasov and Cluj-Napoca.

By comparison, the number of local tourists using accommodation facilities in the country increased by 7.7% to over 10 million, most likely driven by the government-funded holiday vouchers programme under which employees in the public sector received vouchers of some EUR 300 to spend for tourism purposes in the country.

The number of nights spent by local tourists in 2018 increased by 6.9% to 23.1 million, resulting in an average stay of 2.3 nights, which is not much higher compared to the average stay of foreign tourists.

Romania, fifth-to-last in EU for drawing foreign tourists

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Shutterstock)