site.btaStatistics: Travels in April Surpass Pre-COVID Values

In April 2023, the number of trips of Bulgarian residents abroad was 675,000 or 14.3% above those registered in April 2022, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said on Friday. In comparison with the same month of the previous year, an increase was registered in the trips with holiday and recreation purpose - by 30.5% and with other purposes - by 19.9%, while those with professional purpose decreased by 12.3%.

NSI data shows that in 2019, before COVID-19, Bulgarians made 620,800 trips abroad or 2.4% more than in April of 2018. An increase in all monitored purposes on a year-on-year basis (compared to April 2018) was registered: "holiday and excursion" - by 3.8%, "other" - by 2.9%, and "business" - by 0.3%.

In April 2023 most trips of Bulgarian residents were made to Turkiye (183,700, up from 145,000 in 2019), Greece (143,900, up from 124,400 in 2019), and Romania (51,300, up from 41,700 in the year before the pandemic).

Trips with other purposes (as a guest, education and visiting cultural and sports events) in April 2023 composed the greatest share of the total number of trips of Bulgarian residents abroad - 46.3%, followed by those with holiday and recreation purpose - 33.0%, and with professional purpose - 20.7%.

In April 2023, the number of visits of non-residents to Bulgaria was 784,400  or 21.4% more in comparison with April 2022.

The share of visits of EU citizens was 50.3% of the total number of non-residents’ visits to Bulgaria in April 2023, and reached 394,900, mostly from Romania - 41.4% and Greece - 26.1%. The share of visits of EU citizens in April 2019 was 55.4% or 2.9% more Y/Y.

The visits of non-residents in the group ‘Other European countries’ were 315,500, or 40.2% of all visits to Bulgaria. The highest number of visits was registered from Turkiye – 150,800 or 47.8% of all trips in this group.

In April 2023, the most visits to Bulgaria were from: Romania – 163,500, Turkiye – 150,800, Greece – 103,200, Ukraine – 60,100, Serbia – 46,500, Germany – 36,900, North Macedonia – 32,300, Poland – 16,300, the United Kingdom – 15,100, and Italy – 13,600.

In April 2023, the predominant share of the visits was with other purposes - 52.7%, followed by trips with holiday and recreation purpose - 33.6%, and with professional purpose - 13.7%.