site.bta362,000-Plus Tourists Spend 1.133 Mln Nights in Bansko in 2023

More than 362,000 tourists have visited Bansko in 2023, and the number of overnight stays was over 1.133 million, according to a report provided to BTA by the Bansko Municipality. The report shows that 2023 saw an increase of more than 75,000 overnight stays in Bansko Municipality compared to the pre-COVID 2019, even though there were some 1,400 fewer tourists visiting the resort compared to 2019.

Most visitors, or just over 181,000, were Bulgarians, who made over 465,000 overnight stays. Foreign tourists were nearly 30,000 fewer, or nearly 154,000, who made 200,000 more overnight stays compared to the Bulgarian tourists.

Bansko is a year-round destination, with the strongest months being the winter tourist season - from December to March, as well as the eventful month of August. Bansko welcomed the most tourists, nearly 60,000, in February.

In 2023, Bansko was visited by some 30,000 Romanians, 24,000 Israelis, 22,000 Greeks, 19,000 British and 13,000 citizens of North Macedonia. Tourists from Serbia, Turkiye, Germany, Ireland, Cyprus and Moldova also visited the mountain resort.

All this is the result of a long and focused campaign conducted in these markets, Malin Bistrin, the chair of the Tourist Business Union - Bansko, told BTA. Among these markets are the Israeli, Russian and Ukrainian markets, which are currently missing on the tourist market not only in Bulgaria but also globally, Bistrin said, adding that after the events in Ukraine and Israel, the tourist business in Bansko has focused its advertising on other markets, such as Central Europe and Scandinavia.

Bistrin said: "On the one hand we are looking at new markets, where we aim for development, and on the other hand we are focusing on the domestic market and the countries around us in the Balkan Peninsula."

Another southwestern municipality and a popular wellness and spa tourism destination, Sandanski, is reporting an increase in tourists through 2023. Just over 330,000 overnight stays were made in the municipality last year, with 35,400 more tourists compared to 2022. Of these, 10,816 were foreigners and 24,584 were Bulgarians, the municipal administration press centre told BTA.

Georgi Kunchev, member of the board of Destination Sandanski Association, told BTA that 2023 was a very good year for tourism in Sandanski. As an established annual destination that does not depend much on seasonality, year-round tourism is realized here," he said.