In January, the trips of Bulgarians abroad grew minimally compared to the same month of the previous year - 7.2%. At the same time, however, despite the lack of snow, the visits of foreigners to the country grew by an impressive 60%, according to the data of the National Statistical Institute.

Traditionally, January is strong for winter resorts due to vacations and ski holidays of foreign tourists, but due to the lack of snow this month, there were cancellations and others were rescheduled for March.

The trips of Bulgarian citizens abroad in January totaled 504 thousand, with the largest number of trips to Turkey - 131.8 thousand. One of the reasons for this is the high inflation in the country and, despite this, the much lower prices of a number of products due to which many Bulgarians mainly visit Edirne for shopping.

Followed by Greece with 95.6 thousand trips by Bulgarians, Serbia - 47.7 thousand, Romania - 35.2 thousand, Republic of North Macedonia - 27.6 thousand, Germany - 24.1 thousand, Austria - 21.8 thousand, Spain - 16.8 thousand, Italy - 16.3 thousand, the United Kingdom - 14.6 thousand.

The largest relative share of the total number of trips of Bulgarian citizens abroad in January 2023 is made up of trips with other purposes (visiting, studying, attending cultural and sports events) - 48.1%, followed by those for the purpose of rest and excursion - 27.3 %, and for official purposes - 24.6%.

In the first month of the year, the number of visits by foreign citizens to Bulgaria was 711.8 thousand, or 60% more compared to January 2022. An increase was registered for all observed purposes. Transit crossings through the country are 35.4% (252.3 thousand) of all visits by foreign citizens to Bulgaria.

Of the total number of foreign citizens who visited Bulgaria in January 2023, the share of citizens from the European Union is 45.5% and reaches 324 thousand, with the largest number of visits by citizens from Romania - 36.2% and Greece - 31.5%.

Visits by citizens of other European countries are 321.1 thousand, or 45.1% of all visits to Bulgaria. The largest number of visits were registered from Turkey - 148.4 thousand, or 46.2% of the visits in this group.

After Turkey, most visits came from Romanian citizens in January - 117.4 thousand, Greece - 102 thousand, the Republic of North Macedonia - 51.4 thousand, Ukraine - 49.3 thousand, Serbia - 43.3 thousand, Germany - 25.7 thousand, the United kingdom - 20.4 thousand, Israel - 15.5 thousand, Italy - 14.2 thousand.

In January 2023, the share of visits with other purposes prevails - 51.5%, followed by visits for the purpose of rest and excursion - 35.3%, and with a business purpose - 13.2%.

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