Number of foreign tourists to Romania, up by 15% in October

More than 182,000 foreign tourists visited Romania in October this year, which is 14.7% more than in the same month of 2013, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INS). Most of the tourists came from Europe, some 135,000, up by 6.7% compared to October 2013, but the highest increase was in the number of tourists from Asia, up by 65%, to 24,700. The number of hotel overnight stays booked by foreign tourists was also up by 9.7% compared to October 2013, to 352,500. The average stay is less than two nights, as most tourists come for business and stay in Romania for one or two days. In the first ten months of this year, a total of 1.66 million foreign tourists visited Romania, which is an increase of 11% compared to the same period of 2013. The number of European tourists increased by 6.2%, to 1.28 million. Almost 200,000 tourists came from Asia, up by 38% compared to the first ten months of 2013, while 116,000 tourists came from North American, 25.5% more year-on-year. The number of Romanian tourists who checked-in local hotels was up by 5.2% in the first ten months, to 5.62 million. editor@romania-insider.com