Over 40,000 Romanians chose the Danube Delta in 2012 while number of foreign tourists down

Around 41,500 Romanians chose to spend time in the country's Danube Delta last year, and spent some EUR 10 million there, according to Mediafax, quoting data from the National Statistics Institute. The number of Romanian tourists was down 2 percent on the year before. Out of this number, only 6,800 went to the Delta using offers from travel agencies, and most chose to find accommodation on their own. The amount spent in the Delta includes accommodation and meals, which are similar in price to the amounts spent on the seaside, but also includes the water trips, an extra RON 80 a day. This brings the average daily spent per tourist at some RON 280 a day – or some EUR 65, according to Cornel Gaina, the owner of the hotel complex Cormoran in the Danube Delta, quoted by Mediafax. Foreign tourists make around 12 to 15 percent of those who find accommodation in the Delta, down from around 45 percent in 2008, according to Gaina. “Then came the aviary flu in 2009 and foreigners stopped coming. Delta's image is not yet completely revamped abroad. […] The Romanian state has not invested anything in revamping the Delta's image abroad,” Gaina added. In 2012, Romanians spent some EUR 1.8 billion on holidays and business trips, and the bulk – some 80 percent, went for local destinations. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: sxc.hu)