Bulgarians' Trips Abroad Grow Moderately in April

In April the Bulgarians' travels increased moderately by 4.6%, compared to April 2013, shows the data of the National Statistics Institute (NSI).

For comparison, in the entire Q1 2014, they increased by 25%, year-on-year. 

Largest growth was posted by the trips to Spain – by 52.7%, with around half of them, 42.6%, were for leisure. The second most popular destination was the UK – 30.4% growth, the Czech republic – 26.7% and Poland – 16.1% (mostly for business). 

At the same time the trips to France dropped by 22.9%, to FYROM – by 18.6%, to Germany – by 10%, to Austria – by 9.4% and to Romania – by 7.6%. 

Around 48.1% of the trips abroad were to visit friends or family, to study or to attend cultural or sports events. 

Meanwhile, the visits of foreign tourists to Bulgaria in April 2014 posted a growth of the meagre 3.7%, year-on-year. The total number of foreign tourists in April was 484 500, mostly for leisure. 

A total of 57.4% of the foreigners were from EU member states and their number grew by 2.1% year-on-year. Highest growth was posted by visitors from Hungary – 17.6%, Italy – 13.1%, Germany – 11.8% and France – 10%.

Highest growth of number of visitors from non-EU countries was posted by citizens of Turkey – by 8.2% and Serbia – by 5.4%.