Massive Holiday Exodus Predicted as Nearly 1 Million Bulgarians Hit the Road
Anticipated heavy traffic looms over Bulgaria as the nation gears up for the upcoming holidays
In July 2013, the number of trips of Bulgarian residents abroad was 446 000 or 10.2% higher than those registered in July 2012.
The data was released Tuesday the National Statistics Institute (NSI).
In comparison with the same month of the previous year an increase in the total number of trips of Bulgarian residents was reported to: France - by 118.3%, Italy - by 88.8%, the United Kingdom - by 52.0%, the Czech Republic - by 44.3%, Germany - by 38.6%, Belgium - by 37.8%, the Russian Federation - by 36.5%, and Austria - by 30.0%.
At the same time, a decrease was observed in trips to: Spain - by 34.6%, Macedonia - by 19.7%, and Romania - by 15.4%.
Trips with other purposes (as guest, education and visits of cultural and sport events) composed the greatest relative share of the total number of trips of Bulgarian residents abroad - 48.2%, followed by trips with holiday and recreation purposes - 35.1% and with professional purpose - 16.7%.
In comparison with July 2012, an 18.1% increase trips with other purposes and an increase of 10.8% in trips with holiday and recreation purposes were observed, along with a 8.5% decrease in business trips.
In July 2013, trips with other purposes formed 78.4% of all trips to the United Kingdom, 61.2% - to Turkey, 58.3% - to the Russian Federation, and 57.3% - to Macedonia. Trips with holiday and recreation purpose to Greece and to Italy were respectively 50.0% and 45.0% of all trips of Bulgarian residents to these countries.
In July 2013, the number of arrivals of visitors from abroad to Bulgaria was 1 708.3 thousand which was by 1.5% higher than July 2012.
An increase was registered in the visits with holiday and recreation purposes - by 3.3% as well in the professional visits - by 2.3%, while the trips with other purposes decreased by 2.0%.
The visits of citizens of European Union composed the greatest relative share of the total number of foreigners coming to Bulgaria - 62.4%.
In comparison with the same month of the previous year they were down by 1.2%.
A decrease was registered in the visits of citizens of the Netherlands - by 9.6%, Slovakia - by 8.5%, Denmark - by 5.2%, the Czech Republic - by 3.7%, and Germany - by 2.8%.
At the same time an increase was registered in the visits of citizens of Greece - 3.5%, Austria - by 1.9%, Spain - by 1.7%, Italy - by 1.3%, and Romania - by 1.3%.
Visits of foreigners in the group "Other European countries" increased by 5.9% and the highest growth was observed in the visits of citizens of the Ukraine and the Russian Federation - by 19.1% and by 8.9% respectively.
In July 2013, visits with holiday and recreation purpose had the largest share - 62.2%, followed by these with other purposes (including as guests and passing transit) - 30.5%, and with business purpose - 7.3%.
The visits with holiday and recreation purpose formed 89.2% of the arrivals from Denmark, 86.7% - from the Russian Federation, 85.3% - from the United Kingdom, 80.5% - from Macedonia, 79.0% - from the Ukraine. The visits with business purpose were 33.3% of all arrivals from Italy, while with other purpose were 83.3% of the arrivals from Turkey.
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