Bucharest remains main Romania destination for foreign tourists

The capital remains the main destination in Romania for foreign tourists coming to the country. Bucharest attracted more tourists than the seaside city of Constanța, the mountain city of Brașov, or the western Romania cities of Cluj-Napoca and Timișoara, Profit.ro reported.

At the same time, Bucharest is the only large city in the country where there are more foreign tourists than local ones.

According to data from the National Statistics Institute (INS) quoted by Profit.ro, Bucharest received in 2018 some 2.08 million tourists, with 1.21 million foreign and 870,000 local ones. In 2017, it welcomed 2.04 million tourists, with 1.2 million foreign and almost 840,000 Romanians. A year before, the capital saw 1.92 million tourists, in 2015 1.72 million, and in 2014 a little over 1.5 million.

Most foreign tourists come from Israel (almost 170,000), U.S. (104,000), Italy (92,000), Germany (82,000), UK (80,000), and France (72,000).

Most of those who visit Bucharest do so for business, and only a third come to the Romanian capital for leisure, Călin Ile, the president of the Hotel Industry Federation of Romania, told Profit.ro.

As for the Romanians visiting the capital, Ile explained that they come not just for business but also for concerts and cultural events, to visit museums, to attend football or tennis matches, for various medical issues or to accompany their children at exams.

By comparison, Brașov attracted last year almost 660,000 tourists (with 157,000 foreign ones), Constanța 575,000 tourists (with 47,000 foreign ones), Cluj-Napoca 477,000 tourists (with 119,000 foreign ones), Mangalia 340,000 tourists (3,180 foreign ones) and Timișoara 315,000 tourists (107,000 foreign ones).

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