Bulgaria’s foreign tourist figures for June-July 2023 still below pre-pandemic levels

According to National Statistical Institute (NSI) data, there were more than 2.4 million registrations of Bulgarian and foreign tourists in accommodation in June-July 2023, an increase of nearly 12 per cent compared with June-July 2022, Bulgaria’s Tourism Ministry said on September 14.

Registrations of foreign tourists were close to 1.3 million in June-July 2023, an increase of 20 per cent compared with June-July 2022, but 12 per cent less compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Overall, the results for June-July 2023 are four per cent higher than June-July 2019, mainly because of Bulgarians who took their holidays in Bulgaria, the ministry said.

There were 1.1 million registrations of Bulgarian tourists in June-July 2023, an increase of four per cent compared with 2022, and 28.6 per cent higher than in June-July 2019.

According to the NSI, in June-July 2023 there were 348 000 registrations of tourists from Romania, more than 144 000 from Poland, more than 98 000 from Germany, more than 75 000 from Czechia, more than 68 000 from the UK and 54 000 from Israel.

Compared with the same two months in 2022, registrations of Romanian tourists rose by 10 per cent, Poland 23 per cent, Germany eight per cent, Czechia 13 per cent and the UK close to eight per cent.

The Tourism Ministry said that a comparison with the same period of 2019 shows that the tourist flow from Romania and Czechia had already significantly exceeded the pre-pandemic level and the pre-pandemic level has almost completely been reached in the Polish market.

There is some progress in the recovery in the German and UK markets as well compared to the same period last summer, but the results remain lower than in 2019, the ministry said.

(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)