Romania sees fall in number of foreign tourists

The number of foreign tourists visiting Romania has fallen for the first time since 2010.

Just 647,000 foreign tourists chose Romania as a holiday destination in the first four months of 2019, a fall of seven per cent on the same period of 2018.

“The Minister of Tourism, Bogdan Trif, should resign,” said Siegfried Mureșan, of the opposition Liberal Party. “Romania is losing more and more ground to Bulgaria and other neighbouring states. Bulgaria attracted 2.5 million foreign tourists during the first four months of this year, more than three and half times the number of Romania. This despite Romania being twice the size of Bulgaria and with far more tourism potential.”

“The main reason for the drop in tourist numbers is a lack of government measures to develop the tourism industry. This is all the more serious as there are European funds available to develop tourism,” he added.