site.btaOne in Three Bulgarians Cannot Afford One-week Annual Holiday - Eurostat

113 ECONOMY - BULGARIA - TOURISM - STATISTICS

One in Three Bulgarians
Cannot Afford One-week
Annual Holiday - Eurostat


August 2 (BTA) - Around 30 per cent of Bulgarians, or almost one-third of the population, could not afford a one-week annual holiday away from home in 2018, Eurostat reported in a press release.

According to Eurostat, the largest fall in the proportion unable to afford a one-week annual holiday away from home in the past five years was in Bulgaria. A total of 66 per cent of Bulgarians were reported as unable to afford the luxury of a holiday in 2014, but their share has dropped down to 30 per cent in 2018.

This percentage decreased throughout the years from 60 per cent in 2015, 56 per cent in 2016, 53 per cent in 2017, down to 30 per cent last year. In other words, the number of Bulgarians who could afford a one-week holiday away from home has almost doubled in five years.

Bulgarians' spending on holiday and tourism at home and abroad varied from 1.2 billion leva in 2014, 1.1 billion leva in 2015 and 2016, up to 1.8 billion leva in 2017 and 2018.

In 2018, Bulgarians spent around 1.2 billion leva on domestic holidays and a little over 600 million leva on trips abroad.

Eurostat estimates that 28.3 per cent of the EU population aged 16 or over could not afford a one-week annual holiday away from home in 2018. In 2013 the corresponding proportion was 39.5 per cent.

Among the 28 EU Member States, the countries with the highest proportions of individuals in this situation were Romania (58.9 per cent), Croatia (51.3 per cent), Greece (51 per cent), Cyprus (51 per cent), Italy (43.7) and Hungary (43 per cent).

In contrast, the EU Member States with the lowest percentage of people unable to afford a one-week annual holiday in 2018 were Sweden (9.7 per cent), Luxembourg (10.9 per cent, 2017 data), Denmark (12.2 per cent), Austria (12.4 per cent), Finland (13.3 per cent) and the Netherlands (14.2).

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