The number of arrivals of Russian visitors in Romania has increased by 13.6 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period of 2017, while visits of citizens from conflict zones like Syria, Yemen or Mali have surged, official data show.
The number of arrivals of Russian visitors in Romania rose to 31,075 in the first six months of this year, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
The number of visitors from conflict zones are increasing this year. Arrivals from Syria, a country ravaged by war, rose by 4.4 percent to 8,247 in H1 2018, from Yemen – by 20.2 percent to 101, while arrivals from Mali rose by 100 percent, to 32.
A sudden surge in arrivals was also recorded from Eritrea, whose government is accused by the UN of carrying out systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations. The number of Eritrean visitors rose by 350 percent in the first half of this year, up to 36.
In the first half of this year, Romania registered 5.1 million arrivals of foreign visitors on its territory, up 7.1 from H1 2017.
The highest number of foreign visitors came from the neighboring countries: Moldova (981,973 in H1), Bulgaria (727,570), Hungary (710,867) and Ukraine (578,241).