The number of foreigners who chose a four-star hotel rose by 11.7% from the same period of last year, with this as the most dynamic segment of the local hotel market in the past year.
Most foreign visitors who arrived in Romania in the first half of this year opted for four and five-star hotels. Thus, 42% of tourists stayed in four-star hotels, 26% opted for five-star units, while 25% slept in three-star units.
“The four-star classification satisfies everybody, it offers a good standard of services and competition on this segment is high,” said Lucian Marinescu, a consultant at Trend Hospitality.
Bucharest attracted most foreign tourists, 470,000 persons, namely almost half the total number of visitors who got accommodated in hotels in January-July 2014. As a matter of fact, several hotel owners of Bucharest stated they got more tourists this year, which increased their revenue.
Unlike other cities in the country, Bucharest has the advantage of being a hub for most airlines that put Romania on their route map.
The most appealing county by the number of attracted foreigners is Brasov, which became Romania’s second touristic pole after Bucharest. Brasov accommodated 53,000 foreigners in the first seven months of the year, according to National Statistics Institute data. Brasov county has 192 hotel companies, which generated total revenue of 184 million lei (around EUR42 million) last year.
The second most appealing county for foreign tourists is Sibiu, which accommodated 44,000 foreigners in the first seven months of this year.
Timis county, which is not on the list of travel destinations promoted by Romanian authorities abroad, also attracted 41,000 foreigners, while Cluj hosted almost 30,000 foreigners, reveals ZF survey.
Constanta county accommodated just 26,000 foreigners in January-July, while only 25,000 foreigners reached Prahova Valley.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)