Five Times More Foreign Tourists Visit Bulgaria than Romania This Summer

Some 1.08 million foreign tourists visited Romania from the beginning of June until the end of September, 6% more than in the same period of 2015, according to official data from the National Statistics Institute (INS).

Meanwhile, Bulgaria welcomed more than 5 million foreign tourists in the same period, up 18% year-on-year, according to Bulgarian minister of tourism Nikolina Angelkova, quoted by Focus news agency. The number of foreign tourists reported by Bulgaria also includes a big number of Romanians who prefer spending their summer holidays in the neighboring country.

Moreover, nearly 7 million foreign tourists visited Bulgaria in the first nine months of this year, up 17% yoy, and the authorities expect over 8 million tourists for the whole year.

By comparison, some 1.9 million foreign tourists stayed in Romanian hotels from January to September, almost 10% more than in the first nine months of last year. The data presented by Romania’s National Statistics Institute only includes the tourists who checked in local hotels and guesthouses and doesn’t count those who come and stay with friends or those who use accommodation apps such as Airbnb.

While Bulgaria is a popular holiday destination for foreign tourists due to its seaside resorts, mountain resorts, and golf courses, Romania is mainly a business tourism destination. Less than a quarter of the foreigners who visited Romania from June to September went to touristic areas such as seaside resorts, spa resorts, mountain resorts, and the Danube Delta. Only about 3% went to the seaside. Meanwhile, more than 70% came to Bucharest or some other big city, INS data shows.

In 2015, Romania welcomed 1.9 million foreign tourists while Bulgaria had 7.3 million. Foreign tourists spent some USD 1.83 billion in Romania, last year, compared to USD 3.9 billion in Bulgaria, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) data.

At the same time, the tourism sector’s direct contribution to GDP in Romania in 2015 was 3.3% compared to 1.3% in Romania, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).