Domestic tourism falling

18.08.2018 09:21
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In the first half of the current year, Moldovans have chosen to travel to Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Egypt, Greece, Ukraine, and other countries. Moldova has been visited by tourists from Romania, Austria, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, etc. Both emitting and receiving tourism has grown over 20% in the first half of 2018, relative to the same period last year. Meanwhile, domestic tourism has fallen by 4.5%, IPN reports.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first half of the current year, tourism agencies and tourism operators have provided services for 135 thousand tourists and travellers. This is 22.4% more than in the same period of the previous year. The increase in the number of tourists and travellers has been influenced by increases in emitting tourism (+28.2%) and receiving tourism (+24.9%).

Out of 8.3 thousand tourists and travellers to visit Moldova in the first half of the year, who have used the services of tourism agencies and tour operators, over 80% have come for leisure and entertainment, 16% for business purposes, and over 3% for treatment.

Moldova’s foreign visitor ranks are topped by tourists from Romania (19.7%), followed by Austria (13.1%), Russia (11.9%), Ukraine (8.4%), Germany (6.4%), Poland (5.8%), China (2.9%), Italy (2.7%), the Netherlands (2.6%), Japan (2.5%), USA (2.1%), Turkey (2.0%), Switzerland (1.6%), Israel and UK (1.5% each), France (1.4%), Slovenia and Finland (1.3% each), Belgium (1.2%), and Estonia (1.1%).

In January-June 2018, tourism agencies and tour operators have sent 109 thousand tourists abroad. Moldovan citizens’ preferences for travel rank as follows: Turkey (33.6%), Bulgaria (20.0%), Romania (14.7%), Egypt (12.2%), Greece (6.8%), Ukraine (3.9%), Italy (1.1%), Spain (0.9%), Czech Republic (0.8%), Hungary and UAE (0.6% each).

The number of tourists choosing to travel domestically in January-June 2018 was 17.9 thousand. Domestic travel for tourism has mainly been handled by agencies and operators in Chișinău (46.3%), and development regions Center (26.4%) and South (24.1%).