Fewer tourists visit Romania in 2018, but they spend more

The number of non-resident tourists using Romanian accommodation facilities decreased in the first three quarters of 2018, but they spent more according to data reported by the statistics office - INS. Business tourism accounted for roughly 60% of total spending. In the third quarter of 2018 (Q3), the total number of non-residents who checked into Romania’s hotels and guest houses was 938,300 and their total expenditure amounted to RON 2.17 billion (EUR 466 million), according to INS data. For comparison, in Q3, 2017, 960,500 non-resident tourists were accommodated in Romania and spent RON 2.03 billion (EUR 441 million). For the whole January-September period, some 2.21 million non-resident tourists visited Romania (versus 2.16 million in the same period of 2017) and they spent RON 5.23 billion (EUR 1.12 billion) compared to RON 4.68 billion (EUR 1.02 billion) in 2017. Out of the non-resident tourists visiting Romania in January-September, 57.3% (versus 58.3% in 2017) arrived for business, attending congresses, conferences, courses, fairs and exhibitions and, their expenditure accounted for 60.8% of the total tourists’ expenditures for the period.The shares are not much smaller for Q3 alone: 53.1% were business visitors and they spent 60.3% of the period’s total tourist’s expenditures. Romania, the fastest growing destination for UK tourists editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Shutterstock)