RSS
WOT : Mountain, delta and country life could double the number of tourists to come to Romania
Romania could double the number of tourists over the next 2-3 years, from 1.3 million at present if they continue to concentrate on the promotion of the mountain, the Delta, the monasteries and country life, Taleb Rifai, general secretary of the World Organisation of Tourism (WOT) Mediafax informs.
« The uniqueness of Romania is the mountain, the fields, the country life which have started to be put to value over the last two-three years and this is the good direction » Rifai said. The WOT head thinks the more important than growing the number of tourists is to make them spend more.
« You could make tourists spend more by increasing the period of stay and this could be done by developping products to make them stay longer in Romania. In the mountains there could be organised such activities as riding horses, rafting, skiing, etc. As the offer is more varied, the longer they will spend in the country. The country where it is spent the most is the US as you have a lot to do. Then, there comes Switzerland, Italy or Spain » Rifai says.
He thinks it is wrong to compare Romania to Bulgaria only because they share the same seashore and it would be better to follow the model of countries with similar relief, such as Switzerland or Slovenia.
Romania went up this year three positions, up to 63 in a top regarding competitiveness in tourism made by World Economic Forum (WEF)including 139 countries, but it is the last in the EU. The ranking is led by Switzerland, Germany and France, followed by Austria, Sweden, the UK, the US, Canada, Spain and Singapore. Out of the EU member states countries, Estonia is the best placed, 25, followed by the Czech Republic 31 – Slovenia on 33 and Hungary on 38, Bulgaria on 48, followed by Poland and Slovakia and Lithuania – 54 and 55.
Depending on the regulations in the domain of tourism, Romania occupied position 51 but it is 66 both as regards the business environment and infrastructure as well as human resources, cultural and natural resources.
At the same time, Romania draws almost five times fewer tourists than Bulgaria and gets three times less, the differences being even bigger by comparison to other countries, such as Hungary, the Czech Republic or Poland. The data which were gathered in a report of the World Organisation of Tourism for 2009, which did not include Romania, the data for tourism being taken from the data of the National Institute for Statistics and the National Bank.
According to INS, foreign tourists arrivals in touristc structures were 1.275 million in 2009. The BNR data regarding the payment balances in tourism show in 2009 collections of 882 million euro ( almost 1.2 billion dollars). Not in 2010 the indicators of Romanian tourism show spectacular : almost 1.3 million foreign tourists and corresponding collections of 860 million euro.
In exchange, the report of IMT shows that Bulgaria got over 5.7 million foreign tourists, who spent 3.72 billion dollars. Ungaria a fost vizitata de 9 milioane de turisti straini, care au lasat in tara vecina 5,63 miliarde de dolari. Cehia a atras putin peste 6 milioane de turisti straini, castigand aproape 6,5 miliarde de dolari de pe urma lor, iar Croatia a incasat 8,88 de miliarde de dolari de la cei 9,3 milioane de turisti straini care au vizitat acest stat in 2009.Hungary was visited by 9 million foreign tourists, who left 5.63 billion dollars. The Czech Republic drew less than 6 million foreign tourists, getting almost 6.5 billion dollars and Croatia got 8.88 billion dollars from the 9.3 million foreign tourists who visited the coutry in 2009.