Foreigners' trips to Bulgaria grow 8.8% Y/Y in June
Foreign tourists arrivals in Bulgaria grew by 8.8 per cent on an annual basis in June 2011, according to Bulgaria's National Statistics Institute (NSI) figures.The largest number of visitors came from Greece, 123 400, an increase of 16 per cent on the year.Bulgaria also recorded a significant rise in tourists from countries outside the European Union. The number of Russian visitors was 82 600, an annual increase of 15 per cent, while Ukrainian trips jumped 50 per cent to 25 000.Bulgarians' trips abroad went up by four per cent to 328 800 in June.Among the most favoured business destinations were Greece (52 000), Turkey (17 000), Romania (14 000) and Germany (9500). Business trips accounted for 40 per cent of the total, up five per cent on the year.Holiday trips went up by 11 per cent to 76 000 in the period, with Turkey, Greece, Romania and Serbia emerging as Bulgarians' most preferred destinations. /Source: The Sofia Echo/