Tourism Ministry in Romania wants to double number of foreign tourists in four years

Romania wants to double the number of foreign tourists that visit it by 2015 compared to the numbers recorder in 2010, according to the Tourism Ministry’s strategy. According to the country's statistics institute, 1.3 million foreign tourists visited Romania last year, up 5.6 percent compared to 2009, while overnight stays stood at 2.75 million, 3.7 percent more than the previous year. The country's marketing strategy for the tourism sector, created by Horwath HTL, targets bringing tourist numbers to 2.5 million by 2015. In total, Romania was visited by 7.5 million foreigners last year, a drop of 1 percent compared to the year before. Most of these visitors came from European Union countries - 59.4 percent, according to data from the National Statistics Institute. Only a portion of these were tourists. Hungary sent 38.9 percent of the visitors, followed by Bulgaria, with 17.6 percent, Germany, with 8.9 percent and Italy, with 7.4 percent. Fewer Romanians went abroad last year – 10.9 million, which was down 7 percent on 2009. Sources: Mediafax, editor@romania-insider.com