BGN 6,6 bill. revenues from international tourism in Bulgaria during the January-November period of 2017

The stats on the revenues from international tourism for the last year are very good, which proves the sector’s sustainable development. Thus commented the Minister of Tourism, Nikolina Angelkova, on the new BNB data that revenues from international visits to the country for the January-November period of 2017 exceed BGN 6,6 bill. a 9,1% growth compared to the same period of 2016.

NSI already announced that from the start of 2017 up to November the country was visited by over 8,4 mil. international guests, which is 1 mil. more than its own populace. We are also registering an over 7% growth in the number of international tourists compared to the same period of 2016, which was a record-breaking one in the sector’s history.

The achievements are encouraging. We expect 8,7 mil. international tourists for the entire 2017, predicted Minister Angelkova.

EU countries remain the biggest international tourism generating market for Bulgaria, with a relative share of nearly 62 per cent and a total volume of some 5,2 mil. visits for the first 11 months of 2017. This amounts to almost 8 per cent growth, compared to the previous year’s same period. The most tourists – over 1 mil. each –visiting during that period have hailed from Greece and Romania. There is growth on most European and non-European markets – Germany - 5% growth, Turkey - 12%, Poland - 8%, Serbia - 5%, UK - 24%, the Ukraine - 15%, Moldova - 17%, Israel - 12%, France - 19%, Italy - 11%, the Netherlands - 23%, Belgium - 35%, USA - 10%, Spain - 37%, Sweden - 35%, Ireland - 19%, etc.