NSI: Nearly 51% growth of foreign guests to Bulgaria in a month

In July 2012, foreign guests to Bulgaria were nearly 51% more than in June and 4.5% more than in the same period last year, showed National Statistical Institute (NSI) data. An increase in the visits for all monitored purposes was registered, the highest growth (13.7%) being observed in business trips, followed by vacations and tours (5%) and other purposes (1.7%).

European Union citizens accounted for the largest share of the total number of foreigners who visited Bulgaria (64.1%), followed by citizens from other European countries (28.3%). The visits of EU Member-States citizens increased by 0.2%, compared to the same month of 2011. Higher growth was registered in the visits by citizens of Greece (10.5%), Italy (6.8%) and France (5.2%). At the same time, a decline was reported in the visits by citizens of Denmark (7.9%), Slovakia (4.7%), and the UK (4.5%). A total of 1,600,000 foreigners visited Bulgaria. It is noteworthy that Greeks and Italians increasingly prefer our country for their holiday to the more expensive resort destinations.

Visits by citizens from other European countries outside the EU increased by 15.7%, the highest growth being registered in the visits by citizens of the Ukraine (32.5%) and Russia (27.7%).

Visits for vacation and trips accounted for 86.3% of the visits of Russian citizens, 84.6% of the guests from the UK, 80.5% from Macedonia and 80.3% - from the Ukraine. Business trips accounted for 22.6% of all visits of Greek citizens, 86.6% of the visits by citizens of Turkey and 51.1% of those by Romanians were for other purposes.

In July, Bulgarians went on a total of 404,000 trips, or 12% more than in June. The number of our fellow-countrymen who visited Spain, Austria, Germany and France increased, while traffic to the UK and Belgium declined. The largest share in the total number of Bulgarians’ trips abroad were those for other purposes (staying as guests, education, attending cultural and sports events, etc.) - 45.0%, followed by vacations and tours - 34.9% and business trips - 20.1%.

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