Fewer Foreign Tourists in Bulgaria, But Romanians and Turks Lead the Way
In June 2025, the number of Bulgarians traveling abroad reached 943.6 thousand, marking a 10.4% increase compared to the same month in 2024
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Bulgarians traveled more in June than in the same month last year, show data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI). The total travels are 717.1 thousand, or 5.9% more than last June. The largest travel increase is to Turkey - 15.4%, Romania - by 7.8%, Greece - by 6.2%, Germany by 5.1%, Austria by 3%, Northern Macedonia by 2.9%, Italy by 2.7% , Spain - by 1.8%, and others.
At the same time, the travels of Bulgarian citizens are decreasing to the following countries: to Belgium - by 7.9%, Serbia - by 1.9%, Russia - by 0.8%.
The largest share of the total number of trips is formed by travel with other purposes (for visiting, training, cultural and sporting events) - 41.6%, followed by recreation and excursion - 35.6%, and 22.8%
In June, the visits by foreigners to Bulgaria were 1.537 million, or 0.9% less than in June 2018. There was also a decrease in the business trips - by 4.5%, and in the “rest and tourism" trips - by 2.5%, whereas those with the purpose of "others" increased by 3%. Transit passages across the country are 22.6% of all visits by foreigners to Bulgaria.
The share of the European Union citizens ff the total number of foreigners who visited Bulgaria in June 2019 was 55.9%, or 5.4% less than in the same month of the previous year. Visits by citizens from Ireland increased by 11.1%, Spain by 5.1%, the United Kingdom by 4.3%, Hungary by 0.7%, and others.
At the same time, visits of citizens from Poland (by 13.6%), Germany (by 8.9%), France (by 7%), Romania (by 3.7%), Greece (by 3.2%) are decreasing.
The visits of citizens of the group "Other European countries" increased by 4.6%, with the largest increase of the visits of citizens from Ukraine - by 33.2%.
In June 2019 the share of the excursion visits was 50.1%, followed by visits for other purposes - 36.0%, and for official purposes - 13.9%.
The largest number of visits to Bulgaria in June 2019 came from: Romania - 252.0 thousand, Greece - 161.2 thousand, Turkey - 140.8 thousand, Germany - 123.1 thousand, Ukraine - 123.1 thousand, Russian Federation - 108.5 thousand, the United Kingdom - 70.6 thousand, Poland - 64.7 thousand, Serbia - 59.5 thousand, the Republic of Northern Macedonia - 43.1 thousand.
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