May 27 (SeeNews) - The number of foreign tourists who visited Bulgaria in April jumped by 128.8% on the year, reaching 646,300, with increases registered across the board in all purposes of visits, the statistical office said on Friday.
Totalling 289,900, citizens of EU member states accounted for 44.8% of all international arrivals in the fourth month of 2022, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a monthly report.
Romanian citizens again represented the largest monthly number of visitors at 128,700, which was about 44.4% of all visits of foreign tourists from EU member states. Greece followed as the origin of the second most numerous group of EU visitors, with 19.2%.
Arrivals from Turkey were 123,600 and formed 41.3% of all visits of tourists from non-EU countries in Europe, followed by Ukraine with 24%.
The share of people who came to Bulgaria for other purposes such as education, medical or to visit relatives represented 56.9% of all arrivals of foreign nationals in the month under review. Transit passes through the country were 42.9% of all foreign visits. Holiday trips and business trips accounted for 29.2% and 13.9% of all international visitors' arrivals, respectively.
About 95,000 Ukrainians who have fled the war currently reside in Bulgaria, with a diminishing number of them choosing to remain, or about 30% of all entries compared to 50% up until a few weeks ago, local news website Mediapool quoted interior ministry deputy secretary Stanimir Stanev as saying on Thursday.