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Foreign visits to Bulgaria in July 2009 dropped 5.8 per cent year-on-year

Thu, Aug 27 2009 13:37 CET

byClive Leviev-Sawyer

3638 Views 7 Comments
Foreign visits to Bulgaria in July 2009 dropped 5.8 per cent year-on-year

Palea Fokea beach, Greece.

The number of visits by foreigners to Bulgaria in July 2009 was 5.8 per cent less than in July last year, according to the National Statistics Institute (NSI).
 
Reporting visits by citizens from other European countries, the NSI said that the number of visits by Romanians fell by close to 34 per cent and Belgians by almost 13 per cent.
 
However, the month saw increases – compared to July 2008 – in the number of visits by Germans (about 25 per cent), Greeks (almost 42 per cent), Spaniards (50 per cent), Italians 40 per cent and French citizens, 27 per cent.
 
Visits by Serbians dropped by close to 34 per cent and by Turkish citizens, more than 30 per cent, according to the NSI, as quoted by Bulgarian news agency Focus.
 
In July 2009, the number of visits by Bulgarians to Greece was up by 63 per cent compared with July 2008, to Portugal by 28.5 per cent, Macedonia 26 per cent, Turkey 7.5 per cent and Romania seven per cent.
 
But visits by Bulgarians to a number other countries dropped significantly, from 25 per cent to 40 per cent, to the Czech Republic, Finland, Malta, Austria, Cyprus, Ukraine, Denmark and France.
 

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Comments

Anonymous EXPAT Tue, Oct 06 2009 19:23 CET
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I fully agree "English Man in Bulgaria".
This country has defiantly issues with (service) quality. The sad thing is there are no (positive) exceptions to the low and terrible service quality.
And regarding beautiful nature. I was trekking on the Rila lakes. Despite the most terrible road to a "parking space" where they wanted to charge us for 4 hours about 40BGN !! After refuse of this price we where threatened with a gun and shot at our car (luckily he was no sniper)

Anonymous Yuri Tue, Sep 22 2009 14:10 CET
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Bulgaria needs a strong industry not tourism. The tourism industry is the first to be affected in recession. Look at the industrial countries (France, Belgium, Sweedan, Germany etc.) and look at the tourist countries (Greece, Spain, Italy) and you'll see a big gap in gdp/capita and in the living standard :)

Anonymous English Man in Bulgaria Wed, Sep 09 2009 23:08 CET
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I have never been in a country so intent on self annihilation, the tourism industry here is an absolute sham, and thats from a foreigner that loves this place, i just stayed at the hissar Hotel so called a spa hotel and the service and amenities where discussing how this place keeps a 4 star i will never know and my self and family will never again but its a classic example of the dire / non existent service level that exists here and they wonder why bulgarians holiday abroad and foreigners dont come any more!!! but i am sorry [...]

 Read the full comment to say i cannot see it getting any better

Anonymous Tom Thu, Sep 03 2009 13:55 CET
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@valeri Im white a North American what hell do you know?

You prefer Russians cause they're your blood brothers you guys have a lot in common crime, organised crime, murder, backwardness.

Anonymous Valeri Fri, Aug 28 2009 18:21 CET
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Unfortunately it's the general, US created, general economic slowdown to blame, but with 15% increase last year, this is still not enough of a decrease.

Well Tom, two things are at play: lately North Americans have becomed unpopular. Not because they are " rich" - that isn't the case these days. There's lot is cash around - it's more cultural and political. Quite frankly we prefer Russian tourists, because they are simply not as stingy.
Then there's the racial thing - you are not white, right?

Anonymous Tom Thu, Aug 27 2009 15:13 CET
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I both have a US and Canadian Passport for anyone that wants to so rudely and even bother asking me

Anonymous Tom Thu, Aug 27 2009 15:10 CET
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Finally tourists are realizing what a hell hole of a country to do tourism in.

I had some problems in Bulgaria as well, hell the hotel concierge staff (was supposed to be 5 star???) at the hotel had a hard time accepting my Canadian Passport. Probably it was too much for them too see someone from a Rich Country walk in there.

The attitude at the hotel totally sucks. I found better service in Albania lol even though Albania is a horribly backwards extremely poor country.


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