Bulgarians spent 66M leva on Festive Season celebrations – report
Bulgarians spent 66 million leva (about 33 million euro) over the 10-day peak of the 2013 Festive Season, mainly in restaurants, discos and pubs, going by National Revenue Agency figures.
In spite of apocalyptic forecasts, this figure was similar to the 2012 Festive Season.
In pubs alone, the figure was a million leva higher than the previous year.
This was the second consecutive year that the National Revenue Agency announced Festive Season spending figures. In January 2013, the agency said that Bulgarians had spent about four billion leva, counting in other items such as gifts and holiday accommodation.
Interviewed by local television station bTV, restaurant owner Lili Chervenkova said that the number of reservations had been the same as in 2012.
“A Bulgarian is a man who loves to celebrate, even in times of crisis. Credit is also freely available for spending on holidays,” she said.
The figures are in contrast to those released earlier in January by the Institute for the Analysis of Tourism, which said that in Festive Season 2013, spending by Bulgarians was about eight per cent less than a year earlier.
A separate poll at the beginning of January 2014 found that 25 per cent of those polled had used credit to fund part of their holiday spending. According to the poll, 23 per cent said that after their Festive Season spending, they would not be able to cover all of their bills in the first month of the year.
(Photo: Vera Reis/sxc.hu)
