November 18 (SeeNews) - The number of tourists staying in Moldova fell by 77.9% on the year in the first nine months of 2020, reaching 66,200, the country's statistical office said on Wednesday.
The data reflects the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and the measures taken by the authorities to curb the spread of the disease, the statistical office, BNS, said in a statement.
As much as 31.6% of 23,283 foreign tourists who visited the country during the first nine months of 2020 arrived from Romania,14.2% came from Ukraine, while Russian tourists accounted for 9.4%.
Tourists booked 276,002 overnights in Moldova during the first nine months of 2020, down 78.8% on the year. Foreign tourists booked 56,528 overnights, a drop of 80.7% on the year.
During the January-September period, the average length of stay of a Moldovan tourist in the accommodation facilities in the country was 5.2 days, while foreign tourists stayed for 3.4 days on average.
As of Wednesday, the 3.5 million people country registered 90,912 coronavirus cases and 2,054 deaths.
In 2019, the number of tourists staying in Moldova rose by 2.8% on the year to 374,765.