How many foreigners visited Bulgaria in 2018

The state statistical bodies of the Republic of Bulgaria have already processed information about how many foreigners visited Bulgaria in year 2018 and from which countries they came.

Based on this, it can be concluded that the number of foreign visitors visiting the country for various purposes - recreation, tourism, business visits, guest visits (relatives and own property) - increases from year to year.

According to the International Tourism Association, in 2017 Europe was visited by more than 672 million foreign tourists.

133 million of them visited Central and Eastern Europe. More than 11.6 million foreigners went to Bulgaria, which is 4.5 million more than the country's population.

And how are things going in 2018?

So in 2018, an increase in visits was recorded - plus 7% to the 2017 figures, according to data published by the National Statistical Institute for year 2018.

Here is the information about people from which countries came to Bulgaria last year:

In total, in 2018, Bulgaria was visited by about 12 368 36 citizens from other countries of the world, which is 7% more than in 2017 - 11,596,170.
1 727 874 people or 14% of the total number came on a business trip, the rest - with private visits, vacationers and tourists.

90% of all visitors are residents of European countries, 59% are citizens of the European Union.
By country: the first 4 places are confidently held by Romania, Turkey, Greece and Germany - residents of these countries make up 48% of all visitors and their number is growing annually.
More than half a million guests come annually from neighboring Serbia and Macedonia, as well as from Russia.
The number of Russians who visited Bulgaria in 2018 decreased by 8% compared to the previous year (-43 669).
Last year, a 25% increase came from Ukraine compared to 2017.
The top ten is closed by Poland and the UK, whose figures also increased by 12% and 21% respectively.
The largest increase is in the number of visitors from Turkey (97 533), Ukraine (98 755) and Serbia (91 599).

For more detailed info by country, see the table and the chart "How many foreigners visited Bulgaria in 2018 by countries"