site.btaSummer Season 2018 Ends a Success - Tourism Minister

104 ECONOMY - TOURISM - SUMMER - DATA

Summer Season 2018
Ends
a Success - Tourism Minister


Sofia, September 12 (BTA) - Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova said this summer season had been a great success, with more than 5.2 million foreigners visiting Bulgaria in the first seven months of the year, up by nearly 7 per cent on a year earlier. Preparations for next year have begun, Angelkova told a working meeting with representatives of the control authorities, tourism industry and local government in the Black Sea city of Bourgas on Tuesday.

Despite a rainy spell in early July, more than 2.8 million foreigners vacationed in June and July, up by 3.6 per cent on a year earlier. International tourism revenues topped 1,300 million euro in the first half of the year, up by 9.7 per cent on a year earlier. This is the third year in a row Bulgaria has posted record high figures in tourism, which shows it is becoming established as a sustainable growth destination, said Angelkova.

She also quoted Eurostat figures showing that in May 2018, Bulgaria had the EU's second largest growth of the number of nights foreigners spent at tourist accommodation establishments compared with May 2017. Croatia was first with a 43 per cent increase. An interim assessment by the European Travel Commission found that Bulgaria did very well in the British and French markets in the first few months of the year. In June alone, Bulgaria reported upwards of 3.1 million nights spent by foreigners at tourist accommodation establishments, outstripping the Czech Republic, Sweden, Belgium, Poland, Norway, Hungary and Denmark, among others.

Bulgaria was noted as one of the EU's fastest growing tourist destinations. Preliminary data for 2015-2017 give this country the largest increase in nights spent by foreigners at tourist accommodation establishments of all EU Member States which posted data, said Angelkova. She stressed that tourism, which generates over 11 per cent of GDP, has been awarded national priority status. LI/DD


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