Trips of Bulgarians Abroad Increased by 9.8 % Y/Y in February

Bulgarian citizens completed a total of 281 360 trips abroad in February this year, which represented 9.8 % increase compared to the same month in 2015.

This becomes clear from the latest figures of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) released on Monday.

There was an increase in the number of trips made by Bulgarians to Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Austria, Italy, Spain and Germany.

At the same time, there was a drop in the number of visits to Greece, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Turkey.

More than half of all trips were made for other purposes (visiting relatives and friends, education, attending cultural and sports events). These were followed by business trips and holiday travel and excursions.

Compared to February 2015, increases were registered in all three types of trips, the greatest being among business trips.

A total of 67.3 % of all trips made by Bulgarians to Turkey and 66.4 % of those to Romania were for other purposes.

Business trips accounted for 69.2 % of all trips to the Czech Republic, while holiday travel and excursions constituted 45.9 % of all journeys to Macedonia.

The trips of foreigners to Bulgaria amounted to 361 908, which represented 9.7 % increase compared to February 2015.

Increases were registered in all three types of trips, the greatest being among holiday travel and excursions.

EU citizens accounted for 39.7 % of all foreign visitors to Bulgaria, which represented 4.4 % decrease compared to the same month last year.

There was drop in the number of visitors from Greece, France, Germany, Austria, while there were more visits from the UK, the Czech Republic, Italy, Belgium and Romania.

There was 22.2 % increase in the number of visitors from other...