The number of foreigners that visited Bulgaria in 2019

An annual review from which you will find out how many foreigners visited Bulgaria last year and for what purposes, residents of which countries go to vacation in Bulgaria most often, how much the tourist flow has increased since 2016. Data obtained from the NSI of Bulgaria.

TOP 10 countries whose citizens visited Bulgaria in 2019

As in 2018, last year 74% of foreign visitors came from these 10 countries:

Romania - 17.2%
Turkey - 13.0%
Greece - 10.2%
Germany - 7.6%
Serbia - 5.4%
6. Macedonia - 4.8%
Ukraine - 4.8%
United Kingdom - 4.0%
Russia - 3.7%
Poland - 3.5%

However, minor changes have occurred. Russia moved down from 7th place to 9th, giving way to Ukraine, which rose to 8th from 7th place and Britain rose from 10th to 8th. Poland moved from 9th to 10th place.

A decrease in the growth in visits. What will happen in 2020?

In general, in recent years in Bulgaria there has been a slowdown in the growth of the visit flow for both tourism and business purposes. This trend became especially noticeable last year.

In 2019, 12,552,152 people have visited the country with different goals, which is 1% more than in 2018. In 2018, the total increase in visits to Bulgaria was 7%, and in 2017 - 9%.

A similar trend can be seen in the tourism sector. In 2019, the increase over the previous year was 1%, in 2018 - 5%, and in 2017 - 8%. On average, tourists make up 47% of the total number of visitors.

Dynamics of visits with tourist purposes (2016-2019)

Germany (-115,010 people, or -11% compared to 2018) became the leaders in reducing the visitor flow in 2019. In second place is Russia with -61,315 people or -12%. The third place is Poland with -29 668 people or -6%.

The leaders in increasing travelers flow were Romania +125 398 people or + 24% and Ukraine +109 593 people or + 22% by 2018.

What has changed from 2016 to 2019?

Compared with 2016, in 2019, the visitors flow has increased by almost a million (987,422 people) thanks to five countries:

1. Romania at 417 307 (+ 24%), of which tourists - 175 093

2. Turkey at 315 336 (+ 24%), of which tourists - 36 494

3. Ukraine 254 779 (+ 74%) of which tourists - 196 408

4. United Kingdom 226 565 (+80), of which tourists - 132 304

5. Serbia 188 668 (+38), of which tourists - 17 180

The total influx of tourists in 2019 only from these countries compared to 2016 amounted to 557,979. Ukraine is leading in terms of the increase in the number of tourists due to the introduction of a visa-free regime between the EU countries and Ukraine.

At the same time, there are some countries from which the visitors flow has decreased over the same period. In 2019 compared to 2016, spending holidays in other countries was preferred by 244 913 tourists from the following countries:

1. Russia - 131,482 people. (-24%)

2. Germany - 69 673 people. (-12%)

3. Denmark - 21,794 people. (-40%)

4. Czech Republic - 14 883 people. (-9%)

5. Hungary - 7,081 people. (-11%)

More information about other countries is available by the link Additional information

However, Bulgaria still has great potential for attracting foreign tourists. The development of off-season tourist destinations, such as wine, gastronomic, historical and spa tourism, is bringing more and more foreigners to the country. Favorable tax conditions and cheap real estate in resort areas still attract investors. Despite some legislative restrictions in the restaurant sector, new establishments are opening in large cities and resort areas of the country. The most popular formats of newly opened places are fast food, burger houses, small family restaurants and coffee houses.

Foreign tourists are looking for the best restaurants in Bulgaria on the site barcafe.bg