Some 4.44 million foreign citizens entered Romania in the first half of 2016, 12.9% more compared to the same period of 2015, according to data centralized by the National Statistics Institute (INS).

Almost three-quarters of the foreign visitors (74.3%) came by car while 22.8% came by plane, 1.3% came by train, and 1.6% came by boat.

The foreign visitors include business and leisure tourists as well as people from neighboring countries who often come to Romania for activities such as shopping or visiting relatives.

In fact, most of the foreigners who visited Romania in the first six months came from the Republic of Moldova, some 790,000 people, 15.9% more than in the same period of 2015.

Some 733,000 visitors came from Hungary, down 2.2% year-on-year, 689,000 came from Bulgaria, up 8.9% yoy, and 415,000 came from Ukraine, up 39% yoy.

The number of EU citizens who visited Romania in the first six months of the year was 2.48 million, up 8.6% compared to the first half of 2015. The number of German visitors went up by almost 5%, to over 200,000 while the number of Italians increased by a third, to 193,000. More than 123,000 Poles also visited the country, up 2.2% yoy.

The number of Spanish visitors increased by 75%, to 43,000, and that of the French went up by 63%, to 91,300.

Another INS statistic shows that some 1.09 million foreign tourists checked into local hotels in the first half of 2016, 12.1% more than in the same period of 2015. Germany, Italy, and Israel were the main sources of incoming tourists, followed by France, UK, and US.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Politia de frontiera)