More and more guesthouses and villas in the Danube Delta, one of Romania’s tourist attractions, are being put up for sale.
Over 20 accommodation units in the Danube Delta are listed for sale on specialized websites, with the most expensive being a resort in Crişan, selling for 1.2 million euros, according to data compiled by Ziarul Financiar.
"We put the guesthouse up for sale because the number of tourists in Dunăvăţu has decreased, either due to the war or other reasons. We have no support; if authorities in Jurilovca have made investments, including in the port and promotion, they have not been involved here," said Iulian, who listed a guesthouse for 296,000 euros on a specialized website.
Data from olx.ro and storia.ro websites also show other guesthouses or villas for sale in Crişan, Mahmudia, Murighiol, Chilia, and Dunăvăţu de Jos.
Among the properties listed for sale is the four-star Danube Delta Resort hotel, with accommodation for 56 people and 120 seats in the restaurant, located in Crişan, at the heart of the Danube Delta (50 km from the city of Tulcea), listed at a price of 1.25 million euros.
"We have several properties in the Delta for sale, the most expensive being this one at 1.2 million euros in Crişan. The reasons for selling the properties are diverse, either personal or related to the fact that some people have other hopes when they invest," said Dan Cruceru from the real estate agency Procasa Invest.
The Duration of Stays Has Decreased
Stays in the Delta are no longer for seven days but for 3-4 days; tourists diversify and combine vacations with the Romanian coast or tours that include other destinations.
"The average stay has been reduced to 3 nights, and Romanian tourists are the main visitors. We have an average occupancy rate of 50% in the summer.
We are not selling the resort anymore; this year's season is somewhat better for us," said Mihaela Găină, manager of the Cormoran resort in the Danube Delta, whose construction began in 1994.
Cormoran in the town of Uzlina, Tulcea County, is built on a total area of 9,000 square meters, comprising a three-star hotel, a guesthouse, and 15 villas, totaling 200 accommodation places.
Only 53,000 Tourists in 6 Months
Statistics show that in the first half of this year, Tulcea County attracted only 53,500 tourists to accommodation units, an 18% increase compared to 2023 but still below the level of over 55,600 tourists in S1/2019, the best year for tourism.
Official statistics do not include tourists who choose to stay in locals' houses in the Danube Delta.
The most attractive destinations remain Sulina, Sfântu Gheorghe, Crişan, Murighiol, and Chilia Veche.
Last year, 144,000 people stayed in accommodation units throughout Tulcea County, fewer than the 168,000 tourists in 2019.
Since the start of the war, areas in the Danube Delta closer to the border with Ukraine have lost tourists, with regions on the periphery being chosen instead.
The Danube Delta has been affected as a tourist destination, especially due to incidents related to the falling of drones or drone parts on Romanian territory. These have increased tourists' fear of spending their holidays in the Danube Delta.
In total, accommodation capacity in Tulcea County amounts to 7,900 places in hotels, villas, guesthouses, including 4,500 places in Sulina, Sf. Gheorghe, Murighiol, Chilia Veche, and Crişan.
No Regular Flights to Tulcea, the Gateway to the Danube Delta
Even so, the Danube Delta could attract more tourists if the infrastructure were developed.
To Tulcea, the starting point for the Danube Delta, no airline operates regular flights, despite the Tulcea International Airport, the gateway to the Danube Delta, having completed a 180 million lei modernization investment project funded by the EU, a project initiated back in 2021.
The Tulcea airport, serving an area of interest for tourists, the Danube Delta area, and the archaeological sites in Tulcea County, had only 300 passengers last year, placing it last in the country's airports ranking, according to data from the Romanian Airports Association.
Over the past 30 years, it has not managed to attract airlines with regular flights, despite continuous investments in infrastructure modernization, the runway, and even the terminal.
If the airport had even regular domestic flights, it would contribute to the development of tourism in the Danube Delta.
Moreover, by rail, the city of Tulcea is connected to Bucharest by a single train that covers the distance in five to six hours.
Currently, the most convenient way is by road; a tourist traveling from Bucharest to Tulcea takes between 3.5 to 4 hours by car, while a tourist from Timișoara takes up to 10 hours by car. However, from Tulcea to Sulina, it takes another 4 hours if they choose the passenger ship instead of speedboats.
Danube Delta, the Third Largest Delta in Europe
Over half of the Danube Delta's area was included in the World Cultural and Natural Heritage list in 1990.
However, the Danube Delta fails to attract even 100,000 people annually (based on official statistics), while the Camargue Delta in France, covering nearly 10 hectares, attracted one million visitors annually before the pandemic. The same goes for the Po Delta in Italy (Delta del Po, 1,500 square kilometers), a destination that can be visited in four hours but attracts nearly one million visitors.
The Danube Delta is the third largest delta in Europe (after the Volga Delta and the Kuban Delta) and the 22nd largest delta in the world. It covers an area of 580,000 hectares (5,800 square kilometers), which is 2.5% of Romania's area, according to data from the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve in Tulcea.