Greece Set to Welcome Large Number of Romanian Tourists 

Greece may well be the leading destination choice among more travelers from Romania this year after tour operators confirmed high demand during Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis’ two-day visit to Bucharest.

Theoharis met with Romanian government officials, including Economy Minister Claudiu Nasui and tourism stakeholders, who expressed their optimism for the year ahead, adding that “the Romanian market is expected to respond very positively. Greece will be the first preferred tourist destination for Romanians this year as well”.

During his visit, Theoharis briefed the Romanian National Association of Travel Agents (ANAT) on Greece’s tourism re-start strategy in the post-Covid-19 era and the country’s re-opening to tourists on May 14 and went on to answer questions. 

Theoharis’ visit and his appearance on local media was warmly welcomed by local tourism stakeholders. Annually, 1.4 million of Romania’s 19.5 million population travel each year.

“Our goal is always to protect the health of each visitor and to provide a high level of services under conditions of absolute safety,” said Theoharis, adding that there was “common ground on all the essential issues” and that there is a “very good reason to be optimistic” about the future. 

“I am sure that before Easter we will have the pleasure to welcome a large number of Romanian tourists in Greece,” the minister said.

On his part, Nasui said he had a very good discussion with Theoharis. “We have the same reasoning regarding the opening of tourism in both countries. Greece is a favorite destination for Romanians and we will try to facilitate their access to the holidays they deserve,” he said.

Theoharis and Nasui discussed ways to facilitate travel between the two countries including vaccination certificates, negative PCR test results, or antibody tests. 

Romania is a key emerging market for Greece, which saw the number of inbound visitors increase by 19.9 percent from 1.1 million in 2017 to 1.4 million in 2019.