Trips of Bulgarians Abroad Increased in March 2014

In March 2014, the number of trips of Bulgarian residents abroad was 313.4 thousand or by 1.5% above the registered in March 2013.

In comparison with the same month of the previous year an increase was observed in the total number of the trips of Bulgarians to Macedonia – by 16.1%,Turkey – by 11.5%, Greece – by 1.1%, according to the latest data provided by Bulgaria's National Statistical Institute (NSI).

At the same time a decrease was observed in the total number of the trips of Bulgarians to Russian Federation – by 27.9%, Czech Republic – by16.1%, France – by 8.7%, the United Kingdom – by 8.4%, Austria – by 7.7%, Romania – by7.4%, Serbia – by 6.9%, and Germany - by 4.8%.

In March 2014, the trips with other purposes composed the greatest share of the total number of trips of Bulgarian residents abroad – 44.5%, followed by the trips with holiday and recreation purposes - 29.0% and with professional purpose - 26.5%.

In March 2014, the trips with other purposes formed 57.1% of all trips to Czech Republic, 55.3% - to Greece, 52.8% - to the United Kingdom and 52.6%-to the Russian Federation. The predominant share of the trips to Belgium and Macedonia was with professional purpose - 45.8% and 40.3% respectively, while the trips with holiday and recreation purpose to Serbia were 43.3% of all trips of Bulgarian residents to these countries.

In March 2014, the number of arrivals of visitors from abroad to Bulgaria was 361.1 thousand which was by 2.4% above the level of March2013. An increase was registered in the visits with holiday and recreation purpose,and with other purposes by 4.4 and 2.1% respectively, while these with professional purposes decreased by 1.9%.

The share of...