COMPARED TO AUGUST 2008, Arrivals of foreign tourists in Romania decreased 18.2%, in August

Arrivals of foreign tourists in Romania logged at border crossing points, amounted to about 897,000 in August 2009, down 18.2% over August 2008, whereas over 1.3 million Romanians went abroad this year, down 26.3%, according to the National Statistics Institute (INS).

The majority of foreign tourists come from European countries (95.2%). 60.7% of arriving tourists come from the European Union: Hungary (34.8%), Bulgaria (14.8%), Germany (10.6%), Poland (8.2%) and Italy (7.1%).

Most of the Romanians who went abroad did so by car (85.0%). Compared to August 2008, the largest drop this year occurred in maritime transports (48.8%).

Data from the Institute also shows that hotels saw 862,000 incoming tourist arrivals in August 2009, down 10.1% YOY. Romanian tourists accounted for 83.5% of the total number of hotel visitors, whereas foreign tourists accounted for 16.5%. These numbers are close to those of August 2008.

In August 2009, hotels accounted for 71.7% of the number of guests in accommodation facilities, down 8.7% YOY.

In August 2009, tourists spent almost 3 million nights in accommodation facilities, down 13.1% compared to August 2008, of which Romanian tourists accounted for 89.7%, whereas foreign tourists accounted for 10.3%.

The net utilization index of accommodation facilities in August 2009 was 42.1%, down 7.1% over August 2008. Larger index values for the month of August 2009 were seen in accommodation facilities of cruise ships (91.5%) and hotels (50.1%).

Compared to January - August 2008, over the same period of 2009, tourist arrivals accommodation facilities numbered around 4.3 million, down 12.9%. Romanian tourists accounted for 80% of the total number of arrivals, while foreign tourists accounted for 20%, with these ratios matching those of the January 1st - August 31st 2008 period.

Approximately 8.1 million departures were logged at border crossing points in the aforementioned period, down 7.9% compared to January 1st - August 31st 2008.