Number of Foreign Tourists to Romania Grew to Reach 6 Million This Summer
BalkanTravellers.com
The numbers, provided by the National Statistical Instituted and quoted by the Evenimentul Zilei newspaper today, showed that the large majority (94.9 per cent) of foreign tourists to Romania came from the European countries and more than half of them (62.5 per cent) – were citizens of EU member states.
Most numerous in the latter group were tourists from Hungary (34 per cent), followed by Bulgaria (19.7 per cent), Germany (9.5 per cent), Italy (7.6 per cent) and Poland, the publication noted.
As the number of foreigners who spend their holidays in Romania increases, so does the number of Romanians who head abroad for their vacation. As BalkanTravellers.com reported in August, 25 per cent more Romanian tourists went abroad this year compared with 2007, with Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey being among their most favourite holiday destinations.
Read more about Romania on BalkanTravellers.com
Use BalkanTravellers.com's tips to organize your trip to Romania
Epicure
Balkans
Balkan Culinary Wars III: Other People’s Meatballs
Ćevapčići from Leskovac, köfte from İzmir or Bulgarian kebapche? Greek keftedes too, please!
Full Story
Curiosity Chest
Romania
The Red and White Strings that Welcome Spring in Bulgaria and Romania
I remember walking along Canal Street in New York’s Chinatown on March 2 a few years ago, when I saw a man sporting a small ornament made of red and white thread pinned to his coat lapel. He must be Bulgarian, I thought to myself with a sudden rush of homesickness, but now realize that he may have been Romanian as well.
Full Story
Useful Reads
Romania
Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey (1995) | By Isabel Fonseca
After spending four years among the Roma of Eastern Europe, Isabel Fonseca wrote a rich book about the way of life of the community that makes up the European Union’s largest ethnic minority.
Full Story
Music
Romania
A Gang of Romanian Rebels
The Romanian group Taraf de Haïdouks is a mandatory introduction to the Roma culture on the Balkans. Full Story
-
Photogalleries
-
A Perfect Shot
BULGARIA D'OR: The Bulgarian countryside, patinated with the noble golden dust of the autumn. Photographs by Lode Desmet
360 degrees Bulgaria, an exhibition by photographer Alexandar Ivanov, is on display at the Sea Garden in Varna until August 28. It will be shown at Plovdiv’s Central Square from Sept 5.
The exhibition Photographs of a Trip Through Bulgaria by Hungarian photographer András Balla can be seen in Sofia's Hungarian Cultural Institute, at Aksakov 16 Street, until August 22
Instant Spring in Sofia | Photographs by Lode Desmet
Off-the-season Beauty of Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast | Photographs by Adelina Iliev
Bulgaria's Northern Black Sea Coast
Photographs by Albena Shkodrova
excellent smugs
Annoyances in the Balkans
Balkans
Relentless Homophobia Rages in the Balkans
Be IN-tolerant! Be normal!, appeals a poster (pictured above) that recently flooded the streets of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.
As the first gay pride parade in Bulgaria is about to take place, amid strong opposition by nationalistic organisations and a large part of society, the high levels of persistent homophobia in the country and the Full Story
Insiders' Advice
If the relentless homophobia is already that bad, what's the attitude in general towards HIV/AIDS, given the rather worrying HIV-prevalence in Eastern Europe and Russia?
Full Story
Is it easy to drive in the Balkans? Depends. If you are looking for adrenalin, this is a cheap way to get it. Expats say the best tactics is not to get annoyed.
Full Story
How to pick the right time to go? Winter is beautiful in the high mountains, the problem is, it can be so cold! Then again, who cares how cold it is - the locals have a cheap cure: heavy red wine. Sometimes warmed up.
Full Story
You can't trust local maps. Nor some international travel guides. One of them, for instance, says, that Neretva River in Bosnia and Herzegovina flows FROM the Adriatic towards the inland of the Balkans, never reaching the sea. OK, how about the Neretva delta and channel in Croatia?
Full Story
The Big Book of Travelling
United States
The Rise of Burlesque in New York: Tassels and the City
Burlesque – the more audacious relative of commedia dell'arte, is in revival. A reality in “upside down style”, this creative, witty and softer version of striptease is back on stage, following an absence of nearly 80 years. In New York, Anjeza Bojku scoped out several burlesqee venues for BalkanTravellers.com. Full Story
Thailand
A Short Guide to the Peculiarities of Thai Food
Travel News
17 November 2008 | A virtual, 3D version of Romania’s capital Bucharest will be created as part of the Second Life online social network.
Full Story
