Bulgaria ranks second in the EU in terms of domestic holidaymakers
Bulgaria ranks second in the European Union in terms of share of the population planning to go on a summer vacation in its own country, according to data of the Flash Eurobarometer Survey,conducted in the EU member states.
With the advent of spring and the holidays around Easter and the Day of Labour - May 1st, an increasing number of Bulgarians started to think about the summer holidays. The recent study provides data on the vacation plans for 2012 of the residents of the EU member states.
The majority (52%) of the respondents, planning to go on a holiday this year, stated that they would travel in their own country. In fact, Greece is at the top of the ranking since 80% of Greeks admitted that they would spend their summer vacations in their homeland.
Our country ranks immediately after Greece in terms of this specific kind of "tourist patriotism" - 73% of the Bulgarian citizens will visit the Bulgarian resorts. Luxembourg and Malta have the lowest rates of domestic holidaymakers because 90% of their tourists will visit resorts outside their own country.
On average, 37% of the EU residents, who will go on a holiday, have decided to visit another EU member state. Spain and Italy are the top holiday destinations for the residents of the 27 EU countries.
A bit under a quarter of the respondents (23%) will visit a country outside the European Union. Nearly one percent of the EU holidaymakers (excluding Bulgarians) have chosen Bulgaria as their holiday destination. The highest flow of potential tourists will come from Slovakia as 8% of the Slovakin tourists have chosen Bulgaria as their holiday destination.
Just over one fifth of Bulgarians (21%), who plan to go on holiday in 2012, have decided to choose a resort or destination in another EU member state. Due to the geographical proximity, Greece is determined as the top European holiday destination for Bulgarians. In fact, 11% of Bulgarian tourists will visit the seaside of our southern neighbour this summer. The potential Bulgarian holidaymakers intending to visit France, Italy and Spain constitute roughly equal shares - about 2-3%
One in ten Bulgarian tourists will go outside the European Union for the summer vacation. Although the survey data does not reveal the countries, which these 10% of the holidaymakers will visit, the most probable destinations for them are Turkey and Croatia.
'Flash Eurobarometer' is a regular sociological survey, conducted by TNC in the EU member states and other European countries, commissioned by the European Commission. A nationally-representative sample covering an average of 1, 000 people per EU member state is used. The maximum statistical error in the 50 percent shares is ± 3 %. For Bulgaria, the survey is conducted by TNS BBSS.
Text and photo: klassa.bg
(02.05.2012)