Informes Sectoriales OP - Icex

TOURISM AND RELATED SERVICES IN BULGARIA
Principal international tourist markets of Bulgaria in 2005
Despite the unstable development and the problems caused chiefly by the transport
infrastructure partially destroyed by the disasters and floods and the effects of the
unrestricted construction of accommodation facilities at the Black Sea coast, data
show that the Bulgarian tourist industry has managed to overcome most of the problems
and has preserved its passable growth rate. August and September brought
back international demand for Bulgarian tourist services. October, November and
December were slow on decrease in visits from some neighboring countries (Greece,
FYROM, Serbia and Montenegro), which requires prompt marketing steps for rebound
of travelling. Decline in the German market in the summer was mitigated to
2.4 percent for the full year by the increase of 2.6 percent in October, 36.3 percent in
November, and 9.7 percent in December. All other main markets as the UK, Russia,
Ukraine, the Scandinavian countries, Turkey, Central Europe, the USA, etc. grew
significantly. The total number of tourists rose 4.5 percent and revenues climbed
about 8-9 percent for the full-year period.
6.2. CONSUMER PROFILE
Purpose of the visits
Most of the foreigners who came to our country over the review period came as tourists
or holiday-makers. Their number has been growing constantly. In 2003, they accounted
for 87.3 per cent of the total number of visitors to Bulgaria (excluding transit
travelers), versus 84.5 per cent in 2000. Some drop (by 0.7 points) down to 86.6
per cent was observed in 2004.
Structure of the visits (2000 – 2004), %
year Tourism or holidays Guests Business Other
2000 84.5 1.3 6.4 7.8
2001 86.5 0.8 5.8 6.9
2002 87.2 0.7 5.2 6.9
2003 87.3 0.7 5.3 6.7
2004 86.6 0.9 5.9 6.6
Source: NSI
The share of guests shrank almost in half by 2003. In 2004, however, it grew 0.2
points up to 0.9 per cent.
The same trend is observed in business visits, but their drop is not so dynamic –
from 6.4 per cent in 2000 to 5.3 per cent in 2003. In 2004 they registered an increase
of 0.6 points up to 5.9 per cent.
Tourist and holiday visits
Over the review period, the absolute and relative growth in the number of tourist visits
was biggest in 2003, when it grew 18 per cent (or by 539 000 people) from 2002.
Foreign tourist and holiday visits (2000 – 2004)
Thousand people
Previous year=100
Indexes
year
2000=100
Spanish Economic and Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy in Sofia 73