The tourism industry of Moldova has seen an upward trend over the last two years. The number of internal tourists in 2012 was 34,000, while in 2014 – 43,000 already, which is an increase of 26%. The director general of the National Tourism Agency Nicolae Platon told a news conference that last year Moldova hosted over 14,000 foreign tourists, by 2,000 more than in 2012. The largest number of foreigners came from the neighboring states and from Germany, the U.S. and Japan, IPN reports.
“Besides wine companies, most of the tourists visit also the Moldovan villages, where they can eat traditional dishes. This year we expect about 100,000 tourists to visit Moldova, but the tense situation in the region affects the tourism industry. We are yet working with foreign partners in organizing transit routes so that the tourists stay here for at least 2-3 days,” stated Nicolae Platon.
The capacity of the tourist accommodation facilities of Moldova is 4,900 places. The four- and five-star hotels in the municipality of Chisinau are the most popular ones. Nicolae Platon assured that the authorities over the next few years will lay emphasis on the development of two- and three-star tourist hotels because they accommodate the main groups of tourists. The Tourism Agency will promote the hotels and pensions that will have special offers.
Nicolae Platon noted that 167 million lei will be allocated from the state budget for developing the tourism sector until 2020. This sum is significant compared with the earlier allocations. The sales in the tourism industry in 2012 totaled 250 million lei, while in 2014 the figure rose to 1.3 billion lei.
