February 10 (SeeNews) - The number of tourists staying in Macedonia in 2008 rose by 12.9% to 605,320, the Statistics Office reported.
Overnight stays reached 2,235,520, up 10.7% from 2007, the statistics office said in a statement.
in December alone the number of tourists staying in Macedonia rose by 16.8% on the year to 33,985 after increasing by an annual 7.1% in November. The number of overnights jumped by an annual 20.7% to 69,183 in December.
Macedonia tourist numbers and overnights (y/y pct change in brackets):
|
Dec'08 |
2008 |
Tourists |
33,985 (+16.8) |
605,320 (+12.9) |
- Local |
14,511 (+27.5) |
350,363 (+14.4) |
- Foreign |
19,474 (+9.8) |
254,957 (+10.8) |
Overnights |
69,183 (+20.7) |
2,235,520 (+10.7) |
- Local |
27,951 (+28.5) |
1,648,073 (+9.8) |
- Foreign |
41,232 (+15.9) |
587,447 (+13.4) |
Most foreign tourists, who visited the landlocked country of two million people in 2008, came from Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Albania, Turkey and Norway. Popular Macedonian tourist destinations include the lakeside towns of Struga and Ohrid, ski resort Popova Sapka, the Mavrovo national mountain park and the Polaki hunting site.