Foreign visitors to Romania up 4.4 percent in Q1 2013; biggest group came from Italy

The number of foreign tourists arriving in Romania in the first three months of 2013 was up 4.4 percent year-on-year to 282,000, from 270,000 in the first quarter of last year, according to the National Statistics Institute (INS). The largest group among the foreign tourists were the Italians, with some 36,000 of them visiting between January and March. The Italian visitors did not show a particular preference for a city or region, with many going to the mountains, natural spas, the capital Bucharest and other cities across the country. German visitors were nearly as numerous as the Italians, some 34,000 in total during the first quarter, but the majority headed for the capital Bucharest. In third place was France, from where nearly 20,500 visitors arrived in Romania. Like the Germans, the majority went to Bucharest, but some visited other larger cities. The British made up the fourth largest group of foreign visitors in the first quarter of 2013, some 17,000 in total, while 13,300 Hungarians headed to Romania over the same period. Next came the US and Israel, both with 13,000 visitors, followed by Austria and Spain with just over and just under 10,000 tourists respectively. Finally, in tenth spot, was the Republic of Moldova, accounting for 9,300 arrivals. editor@romania-insider.com