Arrivals in Romania's tourist accommodation establishments at almost 12.810 ml last year, up 6.3 pct from 2017

Arrivals in tourist accommodation establishments in 2018 were in excess of 12.8 million, by 6.3 pct higher compared to the previous year, shows data centralised by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). 

Of the total number of arrivals in tourist accommodation establishments, Romanian tourists accounted for 78.3 percent, while foreign tourists represented 21.7 percent, with tourists from Europe accounting for the highest share of foreign tourists' arrivals (74.3 pct). Of this latter category, 85.5 percent hailed from EU states. 

Overnight stays in tourist accommodation establishments totaled a full-year 28.449 million, up by 5.7 percent compared to 2017. 

Of the total overnight stays in tourist accommodation establishments, Romanian tourists accounted for 81.4 percent, while overnight stays of foreign tourists were 18.6 percent. Visitors from Europe account for the highest share of foreign tourists' overnight stays (73 percent of the total foreign tourists) and of these, visitors from EU countries represented 84.3 percent. 

The net occupancy rate of accommodation units in 2018 was 32.4 percent overall, up 1.2 percent from the year before. Occupancy rates were higher for hotels (41.1 percent), bungalows (28.6 pct), tourist villas (26.1 pct), hostels (23.6 pct), ships (23.3 pct), tourist inns (21.6 pct), tourist boarding houses (21.1 pct). 

Of the total number of foreign tourists who checked in with Romanian tourist accommodation establishments most came from Germany (326,200); Israel (277,000); Italy (240,200); France (170,600); and the US (165,500). 

There were 11.720 ml incoming foreign visitors registered at border checkpoints in 2018, up 7.3 percent compared to the year before. Most foreign visitors came from European countries (92.4 pct), with the EU accounting for 49.2 percent of the total arrivals to Romania. The EU countries providing most visitors were Bulgaria (27.7 percent), Hungary (25.8 percent), Germany (8.5 percent), Italy (8.1 percent), Poland (5.4 percent) and the UK (3.7 percent).