Bulgaria's Tourism Going Online

SofieEcho, Petar Kostadinov

Bulgaria had to spend more efforts in advertising itself online, Anelia Kroushkova, head of the State Agency for Tourism (SAT) told reporters on September 27. This was the same day that the United Nations World Tourist Organisation celebrated World Tourism Day.

More than one third, 34 per cent, of the tourists who visited Bulgaria over the first eight months of 2007 learnt about the country from the internet, research by SAT showed. According to Kroushkova, the percentage showed that the agency should emphasise promoting the country online. Tourist who were visiting Bulgaria based on the recommendation of a friend or because of previous trips made up the largest group, 36 per cent. The research also showed that the number of tourists who came on holiday to Bulgaria and stayed in their own house or apartment had increased, Focus news agency said. A total of 3.1 per cent of all the tourists to came to Bulgaria owned property in the country. Mostly it was UK tourists that owned real estate in Bulgaria, Kroushkova said.

This high interest in the country’s tourism industry led to a considerable increase in the number of people employed in this market, making it one of the leading sectors of Bulgaria’s economy. According to Kroushkova, 170 000 people were employed in Bulgaria’s tourist sector as a result of the “tourist boom”.


The high interest, however, came with high competition, Kroushkova said. Bulgaria's main competitors in tourism were Turkey, Greece and Spain, showed research by SAT. When questioned where they would have gone if they had not been visiting Bulgaria, 17 per cent of the tourists asked said Turkey. Greece, Spain, Croatia, Romania, Italy and Egypt were the next most popular alternative destinations.

These countries were our competitors in the type of tourism we have developed, Kroushkova said. SAT's research showed the satisfaction rating had not changed over the past few years. The common opinion in Bulgaria was that tourism was getting worse, but the indices showed something different, Kroushkova said. Of the tourists who had visited Bulgaria more than once, only 6.1 per cent said the tourist product had got worse. These tourists were not likely to return, Kroushkova said.

Of foreign tourists, 68 per cent said they preferred to spend their holiday lying on the beach, the next most popular activities were shopping and sightseeing. Nearly 31 per cent of tourists, mainly those from Balkan countries, said that they liked reading and watching TV. Nearly 86 per cent of the foreigners who came to Bulgaria came as tourists. Most of them found out about the country form friends, Kroushkova said.

In general the number of foreign tourists visiting Bulgaria between January and August increased by 6.88 per cent, or 3.97 million people on an annual basis.

Up until the end of July 2007 the increase was relatively low, but a large increase in the number of tourists was registered in August. The revenue from that was impressive, Kroushkova said. According to data from Bulgarian National Bank, income from international tourism for January to July 2007 amounted to 1347.4 million euro, a year-on-year increase of 16.04 per cent.

In turn, Bulgarians spent 727 million euro abroad up until the end of July, an increase of 15.36 per cent on the previous year.

The European Union remains Bulgaria's biggest tourist market, accounting for 73 per cent of all tourists. EU tourists totalled 2.931 million to the end of August, up 30.64 per cent on the past year.

In terms of nationality, visitors from Lebanon registered the sharpest year-on-year rise, an increase of 149 per cent to 3591 tourists. The increase in tourists from neighbouring Romania was second, growing 122.83 per cent to 539 394.

The highest year-on-year drop was reported for visitors from Macedonia and Serbia, down by 73.56 per cent and 73.12 per cent, respectively, as Bulgaria introduced visas for non-EU citizens.

About 2.868 million Bulgarians travelled abroad between January and August, an increase of 6.09 per cent from the same period a year ago. The number of Bulgarians who visited EU member states rose by 11.22 per cent compared to the previous year.