Chisinau included in TOP10 most attractive cities for tourism in CIS countries

Chisinau, 1 October /MOLDPRES/- Chisinau has been included in TOP10 cities of the most attractive CIS countries for tourism and excursions, the tourist portal in Russia TurStat shows. The most popular cities are Minsk, Astana, Yerevan, Bacu. The ranking was elaborated under the analysis of the popularity of tourist destinations in autumn this year.

Tourists visit CIS cities in autumn, usually during weekends, and hikers prefer long tours. The portal states that an attraction for foreigners is the Wine Day, which takes place on October 5-6 in the Republic of Moldova. Tourists spend for trips to CIS cities from 40 to 100 dollars daily for accommodation and food.

Tourism is becoming an industry that plays a growing role in the Moldovan economy, although it is a field far from being used to its full potential.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2018 Moldova was visited by 4.3 million foreign citizens, which represents an increase of 11.7 percent over the previous year. In the first half of this year, travel agencies and tour operators provided tourist services to 151.6 thousand tourists and hikers, up by 12.2 percent than in the corresponding period of 2018.

In May 2019, Moldova was elected for the first time as Vice-President of the UN Commission for Europe within the statutory bodies of the World Tourism Organization, at the 64th meeting of the Commission for Europe. Also, Moldova was elected as a member of two WTO working committees - the statistics committee for tourism satellite and the tourism and competitiveness committee.