Overnight stays at Romania's tourist accommodation establishments, up 5pct, Jan.-Sept., 2018; arrivals up 5.5pct

Overnight stays at Romania's tourist accommodation establishments increased by 5pc in the first nine months of 2018 compared with the same period of the previous year, while arrivals advanced 5.5pct over the same period, according to data released by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) on Friday. 

Romanian tourists accounted for 77.9pct of the total number of arrivals at the accommodation establishments, while foreign tourists accounted for 22.1pct, similar to January 1 - September 30, 2017. As regards the arrivals of foreign tourists at the tourist accommodation establishments, the largest share was held by other European tourists (74.6pct of all foreign tourists), with 85.9%pct of them hailing from other European Union (EU) member states. 

The arrivals at the tourist accommodation establishments in the first nine months of 2018 amounted to 10.006 million, up 5.5pct over the same period of the previous year. 

On the other hand, overnight stays amounted to 22.551 million, 5percent above the figures in the first nine months of 2017. Romanian tourists accounted for 81.3pct of the overnight stays, while foreign tourists made up 18.7pct. The largest share of the foreign tourists' overnight stays in the tourist accommodation establishments was held by other European tourists (73.2pct of the total foreign tourists), of which 84.5pct came from other EU countries. 

According to the same statistics, the average length of stay between January 1 and September 30, 2018 was 2.4 days for Romanian tourists and 1.9 days for foreign tourists. 

As against September 2018, official data shows that arrivals at the accommodation establishments totalled 1.298 million, up 9.8pct from September 2017. Arrivals of Romanian tourists at the accommodation establishments accounted for over three quarters (77.5pct) of them, while foreign tourists accounted for 22.5pct, similar to the September 2017 data. 

Regarding the foreign tourists' arrivals at the tourist accommodation establishments, the largest share was held by other European tourists (74.8pct of the total foreign tourists), 88.2pct of whom came form other European Union (EU) countries. 

As far as overnight stays are concerned, official statistics show that in September 2018 they amounted to 2.981 million, up 10.8pct from the same month of the previous year. Overnight stays by Romanian tourists were a majority (81.7pct). At the same time, overnight foreign tourists accounted for 18.3pct of the total. 

On the other hand, the largest share of tourists who have overnighted at Romania's tourist accommodation establishments was held by other European tourists (73.5pct of all foreign tourists), with 87.1pct of them coming from other European Union member states. 

Data with INS also show that the net occupancy rate in September 2018 was 36.9pct, up 2.5 percentage points from the same month of the previous year. Higher rates were reported by hotels (46.7pct), bungalows (30.3pct), tourist villas (29.8pct), boat cabins (26.9pct), tourist boarding houses (24.9pct) and hostels (24.8pct). 

Regarding the departures of Romanian visitors abroad registered at border crossing points, they were 2.096 million in September, up 8.3pct from September 2017. The means of road transport were the most often used for departures abroad, accounting for 66.8pct of the total number of departures.