site.btaTourists in Sofia Increase, Highest Number from Germany, Greece, UK

Tourists in Sofia Increase, Highest Numbers from  Germany, Greece, UK

Sofia, September 20 (BTA) - A total of 485,272 tourists were registered in Sofia in the January-June period, including 284,088 foreigners and 201,184 Bulgarians. They marked a 5.7 per cent growth compared to the first half of 2014, according to data of the Tourism municipal company, submitted to BTA.

Tourists' visits peaked in June.

The main tourist flow is from Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Israel, France and the neighbouring countries. The highest number of foreign tourists having visited Sofia were from Germany, Greece, the United Kingdom, Italy, USA and Turkey, closely followed by Israel, Romania, France, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro.

In the first six months of 2015, there was an increase of the guests from Israel - by 28 per cent, Ukraine - 12 per cent, Japan - 10 per cent and USA - 8 per cent year-on-year. Visitors from China marked the highest increase of 45 per cent but their absolute number is still low.

There was a drop of the number of tourists from Russia - by 14 per cent and Austria and Spain - by 12 per cent each.

The markets of the neighbouring countries are of primary importance.

There was an increase both in the number of guests and the overnights spent in the period under review. Only Greek tourists make an exception with a drop of 1.5 per cent in the number of visitors and a nearly 7 per cent decrease of overnights.

The number of Turkish tourists increased after the 2014 six per cent drop year-on-year. The number of tourists from Serbia increased by 18 per cent mostly due to the launching of a direct Sofia-Belgrade service in the end of March 2014.

The number of Bulgarian tourists having visited Sofia was evenly distributed by months, while foreign visitors increased continuously throughout the period to reach 62,000 people in June.

The statistical data show an increase of the number of tourists every following year: by 1.45 per cent in 2010, 6.03 per cent in 2011, 8.94 per cent in 2012, 5.67 per cent in 2013 and 9.11 per cent in 2014.

The revenues of the Sofia Municipality since the beginning of the year have increased by almost 1 million leva.

Sofia offers possibilities for cultural and historical, congress, environmental, mountain and events tourism and, therefore, attracts visitors all-the-year-round.

The profile of the tourists, visiting Sofia, does not differ from the profile of the tourists at world level. They have higher demands as they are more informed, possess tourist experience, choose the best quality-price ratio and seek "sensational" products, such as pilgrimage tourism, clean nature and contacts with the local population.