Fewer foreign visitors come to Romania, still more Romanians going abroad

The number of foreign visitors in the first quarter of the year in Romania, of 1.42 million, was slightly lower than during the same period of last year – down 3.9 percent, according to the National institute of Statistics. Most of these foreigners (96 percent) came from European countries, out of which more than 64 percent from EU countries. Neighboring countries Hungary and Bulgaria were in the top of home countries for foreigners having entered Romania during this period, followed by Italy, Germany and Austria. When it comes to outgoing visits, which means Romanians going abroad, the drop was even higher in the first quarter of this year – 6.4 percent fewer Romanians went abroad. But the number, 2.4 million, is still almost double the number of foreigners having arrived in Romania. Most of Romanians which went abroad left by car. As far as tourism goes, almost 1 million tourists registered for accommodation facilities in Romania in the first quarter, but more than 77 percent of them were Romania.