site.btaBulgarians' Trips Abroad Up 15.3%, Non-Residents' Visits Up 49% in October, Y/Y

Bulgarians made 599,500 trips abroad in October 2022, up by 15.3% from a year earlier, the National Statistical Institute said on Tuesday.

Most trips were made to Turkiye (160,600), Greece (145,100), Serbia (57,600), Romania (47,100), Germany (40,100), the Republic of North Macedonia (21,200), Italy (16,600), Austria (15,000), the UK (13,800), and Spain (11,600).

At 42.3%, the trips with other purposes (as a guest, for education, or for cultural and sports events) accounted for the largest share of trips of Bulgarians abroad in October, followed by those with a holiday and recreation purpose, 35.4%, and with a professional purpose, 22.3%.

In October 2022, the number of non-residents' visits to Bulgaria was 847,100, up by 49.2% year-on-year. An increase was registered for trips with all purposes. Transit through the country accounted for 38.7% (327,700) of all visits of non-residents to Bulgaria. 

Visits by EU citizens accounted for 46.4% of all non-residents' visits to Bulgaria in October. They numbered 392,700, of which visitors from Romania accounted for 37.4% and from Greece, 14.3%. 

The visits of non-residents from other European countries totalled 370,000, or 43.7% of all visits to Bulgaria. At 164,000, visits from Turkiye accounted for the biggest share, 44.3%, of visits in this group of countries. 

In October 2022, the most visits to Bulgaria were from Turkiye (164,000), Romania (146,800), Ukraine (74,400), Serbia (56,100), the Republic of North Macedonia (45,300), Germany (41,900), Poland (19,900), the UK (17,500), and Italy (14,700).

The predominant share of those visits was for other purposes, 50.1%, followed by trips with a holiday and recreation purpose (34.6%) and with a professional purpose (15.3%).