More Bulgarians travelled with tourism in mind during the first three months of this year, compared to the period of January-March 2008. The data comes from the Bulgarian National statistics institute. The increase is of 18,6%. The total number of Bulgarian travellers aged over 15 is 1168000 people, and the people that travelled within the country increased by 25,7%. The people that travel abroad have lessened with 20,5% per year, notes the statistic.

The data from the Statistics Institute also shows that 46,9% of the people that chose to travel the Bulgarian roads have visited relatives and friends. 64% of the people that went abroad went on a vacation or on a trip.

For the first quarter of the year, the most active people are between the range of 25 to 44 years. The share of them that travelled for personal reasons is 45,8%, and the percentage of those with a business goal in mind – 54,9%. The least amount of people on the road are those over 65. Within Bulgaria, their percentage is 7,2% for the first quarter. Their share in the tourism market abroad is 2,9%.