According to the National statistics institute (NSI), Bulgarian citizens preferred neighboring countries for their vacations in July.

In July, Bulgarian citizens traveled 135 thousand times with vacation as their goal. 51 400 of them visited Greece, 19 800 of them – Serbia, 16 200 – Romania, and 14 500 – Turkey.

The number of foreign tourists in Bulgaria for July is 856 700. Most of them are Germans – 154 700, followed by Romanians – 79 200, Polish – 62 900 and Austrian = 20 900.

The total number of Bulgarian citizens abroad for July is 522 500, or 14,2% more compared to the same period of 2009. The increase of travels of Bulgarian citizens compared to the same month in 2008 is noted in Greece – increase of 63%; in Portugal – 28,5%; Macedonia – 26,2%; Turkey – 7,5% and Romania – 7%.

Business trips form the biggest share of travels abroad by Bulgarian citizens – 50,8%. Vacation trips are 25,8%.

Countries from the European Union with a declining tourist presence in Bulgaria include Sweden (41,8% less), Romania (33,6% less), Slovakia – 28,1%.

At the same time, countries with an increasing tourist presence in Bulgaria include: Spain (49,2% more), Greece (41,9% more) and Italy (40,4% more).

More tourists also came from Israel (26,4% increase), Russia (11,6%) and Ukraine (7,6%).