Foreign tourist arrivals to Bulgaria rise 6.6% y/y in May

Visitors from fellow EU member states represented 52.3% of all visits by foreign nationals in May, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a monthly report. Romania was Bulgaria's biggest EU feeder market, accounting for 42.6% of all EU visitors, followed by Greece with 23.6%.

Visits to Bulgaria from other European countries amounted to 385,100 last month, of which Turkey made up 44.6%.

Overall, Romania was the source of the highest number of visitors in the review month, or 220,800, followed by Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, Germany and Serbia.

In May, holiday trips and business visits accounted for 38.1% and 14% of all international visitors' arrivals, respectively, with increases recorded in all categories of visits monitored.