Romania’s tourism will be promoted through a national marketing plan, Tourism and Development Minister Udrea said. Romania will benefit from a professional promotion plan, with clear objectives that will identify main targets and when it is best to approached them, she explained. The plan indicates that Romania needs more online promotion which has never been done before.

Foreigners choosing Romanian hotels prefer Bucharest, Transylvania and the South East region. Those preferring hostels or rural accommodations opt for Transylvania and Moldova. Hungarians are the most numerous group of tourists, followed by Moldovans, Ukrainians and Bulgarians.

According to official reports, in 2009 we were visited by a citizen from Malta, one from Luxembourg and by four Egyptians. Even though an intensive marketing strategy is welcomed, it remains to be seen how will the ministry implement it. How foreigners will be lured into visiting Moldova, North Romania or Central Romania considering that these are most visited by most foreigners?

Contrary to foreigners, Romanians prefer the Danube Delta or the seaside to the mountainside . Therefore, the ministry has two options: it can either promote more offers in the South East area at the seaside or it can attempt to increase the number of foreign tourists preferring the mountainous area. Another important consideration is the target: we want to attract tourists from China or Switzerland? Middle income or premium? Quality tourism, for those with money presumes infrastructure. However, there still are places that are hard to reach even by bike.

There are plenty of areas in Romania that lack visibility abroad and have plenty of locations that could well attract foreigners for their historical importance and beauty. It is clear that what Romania’s tourism needs is infrastructure and clear objectives, not eloquently expressed ambitions.

The other element to this equation is Romania’s competitors which do not leave our country in a good position compared to its neighbors as we lack infrastructure, we cash in less money than our neighbors do and perspectives are not good either. According to the World Bank, that notes the quality of infrastructure from a scale of 1 – the worst- to 7 – the best-, Romania was given a 3. In other words, very close to 1.

Another aspect, if we look at revenues obtained from foreign tourism: foreign tourists arrivals in December 2010 totaled 387.8 thousands of people, a 8.9% increase compared to December 2009. Romanian tourists totaled in December 2010 81.7% of the total number of arrivals and foreign tourists represented 18.3%.

Hotel arrivals in December 2010 represent 73.8% of the total arrivals in tourist accommodations. Compared to December 2009, arrivals in hotels increased by 9.4%. Among EU member states, most tourists arrived from Hungary, 39.3%, Bulgaria 20.6%, Italy 9%, Germany 8.7%, Austria 4.2% and Poland 3.2%.