Tour operators forecast number of tourists will drop in Moldova in 2009

President of the Tourism Agencies National Association from Moldova (ANAT) Nicolae Platon forecasts the number of tourists will drop in the country in 2009 because of the financial prices, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Most of the tourists (65%) come to Moldova for business affaires, and the number is falling because of the financial crisis,” Nicolae Platon said. According to him, some 17 thousand tourists came to Moldova in 2007 and in 2008 the number decreased to 10 thousand. In order to maintain a stable number of tourists we should develop the individual tourism, that is tourists traveling by their own cars, the ANAT president believes. According to him tourism services are expensive in Moldova and non-competitive compared to the international market. They go on building 4-5-star elite hotels to the detriment of the 2-3-star hotels, which is unjustified. If three years ago, a tourist spent some $92-94 on average in Moldova per day, in 2007-2008 the amount rose to $182. In Nicolae Platon’s opinion, it would be a good idea to make the number of resorts grow, to encourage competition, and thus the smaller prices. The number of tourists also dropped because a series of consular services were ousted from border crossing points and the airport, Nicolae Platon says. “If there came some 5,000 Turks who used to get visas at the airport, their number dropped to 1,500 after canceling those services,” commented the president of the association of tour operators. In 2008 most of the tourists in Moldova came from Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and Turkey. Most of the Moldovan tourists went to Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Turkey. Most of the tourists went for 2-3-star hotels, compared with 2007 when the 4-5-star hotels were more demanded.