February 27 (SeeNews) - The number of foreign visitors to Bulgaria soared by 60% on the year in January, reaching 711,838, of which 35.4% were transit trips, the statistical office said on Monday.
Citizens of fellow EU member states accounted for 45.5% of all visits by foreign nationals in January, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a monthly report. Romania was Bulgaria's biggest EU feeder market, accounting for 36.2% of all foreign visitors, followed by Greece with 31.5%.
Visits to Bulgaria from other European countries numbered 321,050 in January, of which Turkey made up 46.2%.
Overall, Turkey was the source of the highest number of visitors in the month under review, or 148,415, followed by Romania, Greece, North Macedonia, Ukraine and Serbia.
Holiday trips and business visits in January accounted for 35.3% and 13.2% of all international visitors' arrivals, respectively, with increases recorded in all categories of visits monitored.