Close to 160,000 foreign tourists came to Romania in 2013 via Danube cruises, spending and estimated EUR 16 million locally, according to officials and industry representatives present at the International Danube Tourism Conference held in Bucharest this week, This was up from 155,000 the previous year.

By comparison, a total of one million tourists buy Danube cruises each year, according to Gerhard Skoff, the president of the Danube Tourism Commission. This represents 33 percent of all the river cruises bought in Europe.

The average Danube cruise tourist spends some EUR 160 each day. In Romania this drops to an average of only EUR 30 – EUR 40 per day which is spent on trips, food and souvenirs. The average stay in Romania is between 3 and 4 days, according to Gheorghe Marginean, the owner of Karpaten Turism. The reason for the low sums spent in Romania is the poor state of the local hospitality industry, he explained.

In Hungary and Austria, the average amount of money a cruise tourist spends is EUR 80 and EUR 100, respectively.

Most of the Danube cruise tourists come from Germany, Austria, the USA and France. Business review Romania.