Trips of Bulgarians Abroad Up 8.7% in Feb 2012 Y/Y

Tourism

In February 2013, Bulgarians traveled abroad mostly to study or visit relatives, according to data released Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute (NSI).
In February 2013, the number of the trips of Bulgarians abroad was 246.0 thousand or by 7.6% less than the previous month and by 8.7% more than those registered in February 2012.
In comparison with the same month of the previous year, an increase in the total number of the trips of Bulgarian residents was reported to: Belgium - by 54.8%, Austria - by 54.3%, Turkey - by 28.1%, Italy - by 23.7%, and etc. At the same time a decrease was observed in trips to Romania - by 28.1%, the United Kingdom - by 14.7%, Serbia - by 10.9%, and etc.
The trips with other purposes (guest visits, education and visits of cultural and sport events) represented the greatest share in the total number of trips of Bulgarians abroad - 62.4%, followed by business trips - 22.5% and by those with holiday and recreation purposes - 15.1%.
In comparison with February 2012, a 150.5% increase in the trips with other purposes was observed, while there was a decrease in business and holiday and recreation trips - by 40% and by 46.3%, respectively.
In February 2013, the trips with other purposes formed 86.3% of all trips to Turkey, 60.8% - to Greece, 60.0% - to Spain and 59.5% - to the United Kingdom.
The share of business trips to Romania, FYROM and Belgium was 47.5%, 43.3% and 40.0% respectively. Those to Italy France and Serbia were with holiday and recreation purposes with respective shares of 31.7%, 28.2% and 24.7%.
In February 2013, the number of arrivals of visitors from abroad to Bulgaria was 320.2 thousand which was by 9.0% less compared to the previous month and by 14.5% above the level from February 2012.
An increase in the visits with holiday and recreation purposes - by 16.4% and with other purposes - by 26.0% was registered, while the arrivals with professional purposes decreased by 13.3%.
The visits of citizens of European Union had the greatest relative share in the total number of the foreigners' visits to Bulgaria - 46.9%.
In comparison with the same month of the previous year they increased by 0.3%. A significant increase was observed in visits from Austria - 14.6%, the United Kingdom - by 12.0%, Germany - by 9.7%. However, there was an observed drop in the visits from Italy - by 12.3% and Romania - by 1.3%.
The visits of foreigners from the group "Other European Countries" also increased by 30.1%, with the highest growth registered in visits from Serbia and Turkey - by 49.6% and by 30.0%, respectively.
In February 2013, most visits to Bulgaria had holiday and recreation purposes - 47.9%, followed by arrivals with other purposes (including as guests and passing transit) - 38.8%, and business trips - 13.3%.
The visits with holiday and recreation purpose formed 83.4% of the arrivals from the United Kingdom, 82.3% - from FYROM and 70.9% - from Serbia. The business trips represented 47.3% of all arrivals from Austria and 30.8% of those from Germany, while the trips with other purposes were 67.2% of the arrivals from Turkey and 60.3% of those from the Ukraine.

Text and photo: novinite.com

(28.03.2013)