Bulgaria Getting Fewer Foreign Tourists from Neighboring Countries

Fewer tourists from Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro are visiting Bulgaria and the overall number of foreign tourists visiting Bulgaria is dropping, State Agency for Tourism head Anelia Kroushkova said. The number fell by 3.85 percent from May to June 2007, she said, as quoted by Focus news agency.

According to Kroushkova, the decrease resulted from the smaller number of tourists from neighboring Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. Nearly 80 percent fewer Serbians and 75 percent fewer Macedonians visited Bulgaria, as compared to the 2006 figures.

The number of EU tourists in Bulgaria rose by 31.79 percent in the first five months of 2007, in comparison to the same period in 2006. Asked whether this figure included Romanians, given that Bulgaria’s neighbor also joined the EU in January 2007 and therefore the basis for comparing the two years is not the same, Kroushkova said that border police did not supply statistics on the individual nationalities of EU visitors.

More than 9.5 percent more Bulgarians went on holidays abroad in the first five months of 2007. Bulgaria earned €336.7 million ($464 million) from foreign tourists between January and April 2007. Bulgarian tourists spent €389 million ($538 million) abroad.