site.btaBulgarians' Trips Abroad in July Up by 7.2% on Year

August 27 (BTA) - Bulgarians made 779,500 trips abroad in
 July 2019, 7.2 per cent more than a year earlier, the National
Statistical Institute reported. A year-on-year  increase was
registered for trips to the following countries: the UK by 11.4
per cent, Romania 11.2 per cent, Turkey 8.4 per cent, Germany
8.1 per cent, Greece 6.9 per cent, North Macedonia 4.8 per cent,
 Spain 4.5 per cent and Austria 3.8 per cent. At the same time,
fewer trips were registered to Italy by 3.8 per cent, Serbia 2.3
 per cent and the Netherlands 2.3 per cent.

Compared with July 2018, an increase was registered in the
Bulgarians' trips for all observed purposes: other purposes by
7.5 per cent, holiday and recreation 6.9 per cent, and
professional purposes 6.9 per cent. Trips for other purposes (as
 a guest, education, and visits to cultural and sport events)
accounted for the largest share of all trips abroad (40.7 per
cent), followed by holiday and recreation (39.7 per cent), and
professional purposes (19.6 per cent).

In July 2019, Bulgarians' trips abroad were most numerous to
Turkey at 181,300, Greece 160,700, Germany 71,500, Romania
69,800, Serbia 37,300, North Macedonia 34,900, Italy 27,700,
Austria 23,500, the UK 21,900 and Spain 19,300.

In July 2019, the foreigners arriving in Bulgaria numbered
2,083,100, down by 3.2 per cent on a year earlier. EU citizens
accounted for 60.1 per cent of all arrivals, down by 5.2
percentage points on a year earlier.

Trips were made predominantly for holiday and recreation
purposes (55.5 per cent), other purposes (36.7 per cent) and
professional purposes (7.8 per cent).

The most numerous visits to Bulgaria were made by citizens of
Romania 314,300, Turkey 212,300, Germany 204,100, Greece
128,500, Ukraine 127,500, Russia 115,500, Poland 106,100, the UK
 87,700, Serbia 72,400 and the Czech Republic 60,500. RY/DD



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