The number of tourists and excursionists involved in tourism organized by travel agencies and tour operators in 2022 grew by 49% on 2021. The number of tourists who went abroad was by 49.1% higher, while of those who visited Moldova was by 21% higher. The number of tourists and excursionists involved in inbound tourism grew by 56%, IPN reports.
The National Bureau of Statistics said the number of tourists and excursionists last year was 477,000 persons. The revenues of travel agencies and tour operators from tourist activities came to 3.3 billion lei, up 41.2% on a year before.
As many as 324,000 tourists and excursionists went abroad thought the agency of travel agencies and tour operators in 2022. The overwhelming majority (99.7%) of Moldovan citizens went abroad for recreational and leisure purposes. The Moldovans preferred to travel mainly to Turkey (52% of those who went abroad), Bulgaria (16.3%), Romania (10.2%), Egypt (10.1%), Greece (4.3%) and Montenegro (0.9%).
The number of tourists and excursionists who took part in inbound tourism last year was 123,000, up 56% on 2021. The number of foreigners who visited Moldova in 2022 through travel agencies rose by 20.8% on a year before to 29,000 tourists and excursionists. Most of these (91.4%) were one-day visitors who came for recreational and leisure purposes.