There’s been a 27,9% drop in the number of Bulgarian tourists abroad for March 2010 year-on-year, shows data by Bulgaria’s National Statistical Institute.

About 283 8000 Bulgarians have traveled abroad in March. There’s been an increase only in the number of Bulgarian tourist visits to Portugal (128,4%) and Denmark (8,6%) when compared to those of last year for the same period.

The greatest drop in the number of Bulgarian tourist travels has been registered for Ireland (92%), Israel (74,8%), Belgium (56.8%), Canada (55.6%), Slovakia (55.5%), Russia (55.3%), Malta (54.9%), Great Britain (53.7%), USA (53.3%), Austria (50.8%) and Norway (50%).

Most Bulgarians have traveled abroad on business (44,7%), 29,5 have been on a private visit while 21% have traveled for tourism or an excursion has also decreased. 301,700 foreigners have visited Bulgaria in that period or 9,8% less than the same time last year.

According to the data by NSI there’s been a great drop in foreign business visits to Bulgaria (30.6%), the number of foreigners traveling to Bulgaria on holiday or on an excursion has decreased by 3%, while transit visitors are 0.8% less than those in March of last year.

EU tourism to Bulgaria has also dropped with 24% for March 2010 year-on-year.

The greatest drop has been registered for visits from Finland (32%) and Portugal (29.8%), while foreign visits from Cyprus have decreased by only 7.2%.

However the number of foreign visits to Bulgaria from “other European countries” has risen by 15.5%. The most tourists to Bulgarian come from Ukraine (27.6%), Serbia (27.1%) and Macedonia (25.7%).

Foreign holiday travels to Bulgaria top the list with 38,3%., followed by transit passengers (33,8%) and business travels (16,5%).

Source: novinite.com