For some of the most popular tourist destinations in South Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Turkey, new statistics are cause for concern, though in some cases authorities are responding by saying it is still too early to forecast tourist numbers for this coming summer.

The number of foreigners visiting Bulgaria was down 10 per cent in January 2009, compared to the January 2008, while the number of Bulgarians making trips abroad was 30 per cent lower for the same period, National Statistical Institute (NSI) data showed on February 27.

On February 23, Turkey’s culture and tourism ministry said that the number of foreign visitors to Turkey fell 3.96 per cent year-on-year in January 2009 to 751 817, as the global economic crisis hit the tourism industry, news agency Reuters reported.

The ministry also announced that the number of foreign visitors had grown 7.11 per cent in December from a year earlier. Tourism is an important source of foreign currency for Turkey, which has a large current account deficit.

On February 25, Turkish daily Today’s Zaman said that bookings for Turkey's tourism resorts had fallen this year. Reservations for the summer are also hovering at lower levels compared to previous years.

While on February 6 the Croatian Statistics Bureau said that the number of tourists staying in Croatia rose by one per cent to more than 11.25 million last year, a figure which given that it reflects a full year does not necessarily reflect the impact of the credit crunch as the year ended, Greece appeared to be facing a gloomier picture.

On February 18, quoting Express newspaper, Balkan Travellers reported that Greece should expect the biggest drop in the flow of tourists for the past 30 years, according to a recent Eurobank study on tourism in the country.

The study predicts that Greece’s income from tourism will decrease by two million euro, the Express newspaper reported today.

However, Greek daily Kathimerini reported in late February that it was too early to predict what kind of summer Greece’s tourist industry should expect.

In Romania, the local tourism market amounted to about 800 million euro in 2008, 25 per cent higher year-on-year.

Romania’s Financiarul reported on February 21 that tourism minister Elena Udrea had said that she wanted tourism to contribute 10 per cent to Romania's GDP by 2015 and thus exceed last year's forecast according to which in 2012 this field will bring six per cent, as compared to three per cent last year.

Speaking in Milan at the BIT 2009 International Tourism Fair, Udrea said: ''Romanian tourism does not even cover 30 per cent of the extraordinary potential the country has. That's why we plan to support new players on this market, not only the current ones".

On February 27, wire agency SeeNews said that the number of tourists staying in Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat Federation in January decreased by 9.7% per cent on the year to 15 844, official statistics showed.

In Serbia, the number of tourists fell by an annual six per cent to 135 848 in January, data from the country’s statistics office showed.

SeeNews reported on February 27 that Serbia expects about $1.0 billion (788 million euro) in tourism revenue this year despite the decline of the global economy, economy minister Mladjan Dinkic said.

Slovenian tourist facilities registered 143 200 guests in the first month of 2009, which is one per cent less than in January 2008, while the number of overnight stays fell by two per cent to 490 176, the country’s statistics office said on February 25.

On February 10, SeeNews said that the number of tourists staying in Macedonia in 2008 rose by 12.9 per cent to 605 320, according to the statistics office.