Foreign visitor arrivals in Bulgaria in September 2020 dropped 56.2% y/y

The continuing impact of the Covid-19 crisis saw the number of arrivals of visitors from abroad to Bulgaria in September 2020 amount to 56.2 per cent less than in September 2019, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said on October 27.

The NSI said that there were 563 719 foreign visitor arrivals in Bulgaria in September 2020.

However, more than half of these – 303 175 – were in the “other” category, which includes reasons such as transiting through the country.

Just 196 003 were for holidays, while 65 541 were business trips, the NSI said.

The institute said that the number of arrivals for holidays was 67.3 per cent lower than in September 2019.

Travel restrictions and charter flight cancellations because of Covid-19 have hit Bulgaria’s tourism industry hard. At the Black Sea coast, many hotels closed at the beginning of September, earlier than was customary before the crisis struck.

(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)

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