Bucharest as a travel destination

We have to rely on the fascination that Bucharest exerts, say travel operators, who estimate the number of foreigners who have visited Bucharest this year is 5% higher than last year. The city is conservative but interesting, say foreign tourists.
"I find Bucharest to be very conservative, but also interesting. It is probably because of this mixture of new and old that comes from glass buildings being located next to communist ones. So far I have walked through the city's old centre," says Abdeel Ammah, 57, an Israeli tourist who had intended to visit the Parliament Palace, a building that was closed for visitors that day.
Abdeel Ammah had been in Bucharest for only 24 hours when he talked to ZF, and was on his first visit to Romania, after having passed through several European capitals.
"Now I will have a bad image of Bucharest," Abdeel says smilingly, after a Parliament Palace official announced visitors would only be received starting the next day. The Parliament Palace was closed for visitors because conferences were organised during that period, and the rooms were booked, but normally, the palace is open for visits daily between 10 AM and 4 PM.
"The number of foreign tourists that came to visit Romania through our agency is higher than last year, when there was an almost 100% increase," said Iulian Andrei, general manager of Blue Line travel agency, which brings to Romania tourists from Israel, on cultural tours across the country, to the Black Sea coast, and to Bucharest.
Foreign visitors who come to Bucharest are also reflected in the number of tickets sold by museums. In the first nine months of this year, the National Village Museum (Muzeul National al Satului) was visited by 5% more foreign tourists than in the same period of last year, with a ticket costing 6 RON.
"The number of visitors has risen, but not significantly. In all we had 226,200 Romanian and foreign tourists. In general, the number of foreign visitors ranges between 350,000 and 400,000 per year, a third or a fourth of whom are foreigners," says Paula Popoiu, general manager of the National Dimitrie Gusti Village Museum in Bucharest.