More than 184,000 foreigners annually visit the Moldovan area of the Danube River, which includes the districts Cahul, Cantemir and Taraclia and the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, crossing the customs posts there. Also, an important number of visits are made to the local museums - over 40,000 visitors are served by local guides who present the traditions and values of the villages of the Bugeac Steppe, which is practically ignored by the Chisinau travel agencies. The data were presented by the head of the Tourism Development Association of Moldova Viorel Miron on January 15.
In a news conference at IPN, Viorel Miron said that each 20th tourist accommodated in the Danube area (of the about 18,000 tourists registered by the accommodation units) is a foreign tourist. Traditionally, most of the tourists stop at the Cahul health resort. About 16% of the accommodation capacity in the area is filled owing to the large number of summer accommodation facilities. In Cahul, the tourists stay longer (11.13 days/tourist on average) owing to the longer periods allotted for treatment at health spas.
Viorel Miron also said that a feasibility study made recently by the association, with the financial support of the EU’s TransDanube Project, revealed a number of investment opportunities in the Moldovan area of the Danube. Among the opportunities are the improvement of transport logistics, rehabilitation or construction of accommodation units and traditional eateries, creation and promotion of tourist information centers in museums and extension of the health spa services.
According to the Tourism Development Association, the attractions of the Danube area in the ten riverine countries are placed third in the European tourist motivation after the visitation of historical towns and the Mediterranean seaside. Here, in the Bugeac Steppe, Moldova has a rare cultural diversity that cannot be met in other parts of the country.
