Foreign tourists more interested in Moldova's attractions

“Foreign tourists are more interested than the Moldovans in what Moldova has to show, despite the fact that the prices for the foreigners are two times higher”, Tourism Agency director Ludmila Dumitras told Info-Prim Neo during a fair of Moldovan travel agencies. “The Moldovans prefer to travel abroad for tourism purposes, but we would like to concentrate more on internal tourism. We want to mobilize the domestic travel agencies to show interest and promote internal tourism for our citizens”, said Ludmila Dumitras. Last year the Tourism Agency registered around 9,000 incoming tourists. This year the number of tourists decreased by 2%, which is attributed to the global financial crisis, but next year the number is expected to rise by 4%. The fair brought together over 50 travel agencies of the total 200 registered in Moldova. The packages on offer range in price from several hundred to several thousand euros, depending on destination. The most expensive ones are in Latin America.