site.btaBulgarians' Trips Abroad Up by 11.1%, Visits to Bulgaria Up by 44% in September Y/Y

Bulgarians made 643,700 trips abroad in September 2022, 11.1% more than a year earlier, the National Statistical Institute said on Thursday.

In September 2022, most trips of Bulgarians were made to Turkey - 169,000, Greece - 163,400, Germany - 52,100, Serbia - 48,500, Romania - 48,100, the Republic of North Macedonia - 24,300, Italy - 19,700, Austria - 16,100, the UK - 14,800, and Czechia - 12,900.

At 42.3%, the trips for a holiday and recreation accounted for the largest share of trips of Bulgarians abroad, followed by those with other purposes (as a guest, for education, or for cultural and sports events) 39.3%, and with a professional purpose 18.4%.

In September 2022, the number of non-residents' visits to Bulgaria was 1,112,700, up by 44.0% on September 2021. An increase was registered for trips with all purposes. Transit through the country accounted for 35.9% (399,200) of all visits of non-residents to Bulgaria.

Visits by EU citizens accounted for 49.2% of all non-residents' visits to Bulgaria in September 2022. They numbered 547,000, of which visitors from Romania accounted for 32.2%, Germany - 16.3% and Greece - 14.3%. 

The visits of non-residents from other European countries were 445,600, 40.1% of all visits to Bulgaria. At 186,300, visits from Turkey accounted for 41.8% of visits in this group of countries. 

 In September 2022, the most visits to Bulgaria were from Turkey - 186,300, Romania - 175,900, Ukraine - 98,000, Germany - 89,200, Greece - 78,400, Poland - 67,700, Serbia - 60,800, the UK - 47,600, the Republic of North Macedonia - 37,000 and Czechia - 22,000.

In September 2022, the predominant share of those visits was for other purposes 47.4%, followed by trips with a holiday and recreation purpose - 40.4%, and with a professional purpose - 12.2%.