The number of the Romanian tourists traveling abroad grew by at least 25 percent this year than that of last year, Dragos Atanasiu, president of the National Association of Travel Agencies (ANAT) said Thursday.

"The peak season of 2008 summer is closing to the end. We can say it has been a good one, when mainly the number of outgoing charter flights went up," Atanasiu said.

According to him, Greece topped the most favorite destinations, same as in the last years, while Turkey registered the biggest growth, being the destination that most operators widely promoted.

As for the Romanian Black Sea shore, the tour operators assess the growth have ranged between 5 percent and 20 percent so far, compared to the previous year.

According to the important travel companies, the number of the tourists who spent their holiday at the seaside grew over May 1- June 15, and the trend seems to be the same till the end of the seaside season in September.

Unlike the years before, the hotel owners have shown openness to the ANAT efforts as regards the prolongation of the tourism season on the Romanian Black Sea shore, Atanasiu stressed.

Much more hotels on the Romanian Black Sea shore will shut their doors after Oct. 1, while they used to close on Sept. 15 or even earlier, in the years before.

At the same time, this summer has been the first with all inclusive vacation packages, strictly promoted on the Romanian market. Likewise, about 50 hotels will be part in the Seashore for Everybody program over Sept. 1-Oct. 15 when the tariffs for a stay range between 159 lei and 380 lei (some 65 U.S. dollars and 155 U. S. dollars).

ANAT has over 700 member companies, with an overall of 16,035 employees. In 2007, the companies earned a cumulated turnover worth 4.45 billion lei. (1 U.S. dollar = 0.4088 lei)

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2008)