Over EUR 4 ml for modernization of Busteni mountain resort

Bucharest, May 5 /Agerpres/ - The local government of the Busteni mountain resort, the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism (MDRT) and the South-Muntenia Regional Development Agency (RDA) on Tuesday signed a EUR 4 ml plus worth of contract for a modernization project called "Busteni, a reborn resort." The project has a cultural and a tourism component and is financed under the Regional Operational Program; the investment involves the revamping of the local cultural heritage and the modernization of infrastructure and enhancing the quality of offered tourist services. Under the cultural component of the project, the Bucegi Culture House and the ‘Last Grenade' WW I hero monument will be restored, with the works due for completion in 12 months. The tourism component of the investment consists of the building of an amphitheater, the organization of a permanent nature exhibition in the Bucegi National Park and the botanic reserve, the construction of a tourist information center, the arrangement of a children's playground, of parks and a public pavilion for musical events, the rehabilitation of the central park, the construction of a multipurpose center intended mainly for sports events, as well as of equipping the Kalinderu ski slope with lighting installation. The deadline for the completion of these works is 24 months. The funding agreement was signed by MDRT Secretary General George Nastasia, South Muntenia ADR director Mariana Visan and Busteni mayor Emanoil Savin.

Foreign visitor arrivals to Romania almost 4% down in Q1

Agerpres, Romanian Economic Highlights, May 10. Arrivals of foreign visitors to Romania registered at the border checkpoints stood at 1.427 million in Q1 2010, down 3.9 percent compared with the same period of 2009, reads a release of the National Statistics Institute (INS). Most foreign visitors came from European countries (96 percent) and 64.2 percent of foreign travelers to Romania came from EU states. The EU countries providing most visitors were Hungary (43 percent), Bulgaria (17.3 percent), Italy (7.7 percent), Germany (7.9 percent) and Austria (4.1 percent). Departures of Romanian visitors abroad, recorded at border checkpoints, stood at 2.439 million in Q1 2010, down 6.4 percent y-o-y. Road transport was the most used exit mode by Romanian visitors traveling abroad, representing 76.2 percent of the total number of departures. Naval transport scored the steepest Q1 y-o-y drop, of 53.8 pct.