Romania wants to run metro and outdoor ads promoting local tourism in six European countries by end of summer

Germans, Russians, French, Austrian, Italians and Spanish metro riders will see images of Romania's Danube Delta, and its mountains placed in their metro stations, as Romania plans to start an international campaign to promote its tourist areas. Metro stations in several cities in the six European countries will be targeted, according to Mirela Matichescu, vice-president of the National Tourism Authority (ANT). The authority is currently asking for offers for international promotion, and looking at metro promotion and outdoor in Germany, Russia, France, Austria, Italy and Spain. The target is to have Romania's ads up and running in these countries by the end of the summer. Overall numbers of tourists visiting Romania have risen on last year, according to the country's National Statistics Institute (INS). Figures for both April and the first four months of the year were up on the respective periods last year. There were nearly 536,000 tourists (including Romanian tourists) in April this year, up 4 percent from the just over 515,000 recorded in the same month last year. The number of overnight stays was approximately double: just over a million but was slightly down on the figure for April 2012. The vast majority of the foreign tourists come from Europe: some 100,000 of the 130,000 foreign tourists in April, with a similar ratio appearing for overnight stays and for the first four months of the year. Numbers of European tourists were up across the board, with the majority coming from other EU Member States. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Tourism.gov.ro; in picture: Mehedinti mountains)