site.btaTourists Staying at Accommodation Establishments in Bulgaria in August 2023 Increase by 3.9% Y/Y

The number of tourists who stayed at accommodation establishments in Bulgaria in August 2023 increased by 3.9% compared with August 2022, reaching 1,540,500 people, the National Statistical Institute reported on Tuesday. Foreign citizens staying at accommodation establishments in Bulgaria rose by 5.9%, and Bulgarians went up by 1.5%.

A total of 705,900 Bulgarians spent an average of 3.3 tourism nights each at accommodation establishments in this country in August 2023, and 834,600 foreigners spent an average of 4.8 nights each. Some 73.5% of the latter group stayed at 4- or 5-star establishments.

There were 3,703 functioning accommodation establishments with 10 or more beds each in the month under review. These included hotels, motels, camping sites and huts. They offered a total of 148,300 rooms with 338,100 beds in them. Compared with August 2022, accommodation establishments increased by 2.2%, and the beds in them rose by 1.9%.

Tourists spent 6,329,600 nights at accommodation establishments in Bulgaria in August 2023, which was 2.9% more than in August 2022. The number of tourism nights increased most notably at 3-star establishments, where they went up by 6.8%. About 74.9% of foreigners' nights and 39.3% of Bulgarians' nights were spent at 4- and 5-star establishments. Three-star establishments provided accommodation for 18.1% of foreigners' nights and 24.9% of nights spent by Bulgarians. At 1- and 2-star establishments, the shares were 7% and 35.8%, respectively.

An average bed occupancy rate of 61% was reported at accommodation establishments in Bulgaria in August 2023, going up by 0.8 percentage points compared with August 2022. Bed occupancy was highest at 4- and 5-star establishments, where it stood at 78.8%, followed by 3-star establishments (53.8%), and 1- and 2-star establishments (37.4%).

Revenues from tourism nights spent at accommodation establishments in Bulgaria in August 2023 amounted to BGN 522.6 million, growing by 15.8% compared with August 2022. This resulted from a 16.3% increase in tourism night revenues generated by foreigners and 14.6% by Bulgarians.