Bulgarians made 653.6 thousand trips abroad in September 2019, up 3.2% compared to September 2018, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a press release.
An increase was reported in trips made to: Republic of Northern Macedonia – 16.2%, Romania – 7.2%, Serbia – 3.7%, Austria – 2.0%, Turkey – 1.9%, Greece – 1.4%, Germany – 1.3%, among others. At the same time, a downward trend registered trips to: the Russian Federation – 19.5%, the Czech Republic – 10.9%, Hungary – 7.5%, Portugal – 4.0%.
In September 2019, the largest number of trips Bulgarians made to: Greece – 158.3 thousand, Turkey – 155.6 thousand, Serbia – 49.1 thousand, Romania – 48.8 thousand, Germany – 42.0 thousand, Republic of Northern Macedonia – 38.8 thousand, Austria – 20.3 thousand, United Kingdom – 17.4 thousand, France – 16.4 thousand, Italy – 16.0 thousand.
In September 2019, the number of foreign visitors to Bulgaria was 1,286.4 thousand, or 2.9% less than in September 2018. Most of them were EU citizens, representing 61.2% of the total number, 5.5% less year-over-year. The number of visits from German citizens decreased by 20.8%, from France – by 11.7%, Greece – by 5.1%, Austria – by 4.8%, Romania – by 3.4%, the Czech Republic – by 2.0%. At the same time, an increase was reported in visits from the UK – by 15.0%, Denmark – 8.9%, Hungary – 8.1%, the Netherlands – 8.0%, Poland – 1.5%, Slovakia by 1.1%.
Visits of citizens from the group “Other European countries” increased by 1.7%, with the largest increase of visits from Ukraine – 22.2%.
The highest number of visits to Bulgaria in September 2019 was made by citizens from: Turkey – 157.6 thousand, Romania – 157.5 thousand, Germany – 145.8 thousand, Greece – 92.1 thousand, Poland – 72.5 thousand, United Kingdom – 62.0 thousand, Ukraine – 60.7 thousand, Serbia – 58.6 thousand, Republic of Northern Macedonia – 44.8 thousand, Russian Federation – 41.6 thousand.