More than 4.5 million foreigners visited Bulgaria in the January-September 2007 period but the country lost some revenue because of a tougher visa regime after the country’s accession in the European Union (EU), Anelia Kroushkova, chairperson of the State Agency on Tourism (SAT), said at a news conference on October 22, as quoted by Focus news agency.

Around 7.4 per cent more tourists visited Bulgaria compared to the same period of 2006, while more than 73 per cent of them, or 3.3 million, were visitors from EU member states.

Revenue from foreign tourist visits in Bulgaria for the first nine months of 2007 was more than 1.83 billion euro, which represented a growth of 17.8 per cent, compared to the corresponding period of 2006. Meanwhile, the money spent by Bulgarians on foreign trips through the end of September 2007 grew by 14.1 per cent on an annual basis.

Turkey, Greece and Spain were the main competitors to Bulgaria as tourist destinations in Europe, Kroushkova said, quoting an SAT-ordered research, executed between August 15 and August 30 2007 among 3000 foreign tourists. German and UK tourists said they would go to one of those three countries if not visiting Bulgaria. Russians said Turkey, Egypt or Spain could be their alternative destinations. Scandinavian tourists would prefer Greece, Spain and Croatia if unwilling to come to Bulgaria, while Balkan countries’ holiday makers would have gone Turkey or Romania as alternatives.

Bulgaria lost around 250 million leva from a decrease in the number of Serbian and Macedonian tourists. Citizens of both neighbouring states had to apply for visas after Bulgaria joined EU and that had made some of them give up their plans to come to this country’s resorts.