Record growth in Bulgarian tourism for the period January-September 2024: What does the data show?

“The period January-September 2024 is a record year for Bulgarian tourism. According to the NSI data, the total number of registered tourists in accommodation is 7.5 million, with an increase compared to the same period in 2023 of 3.9%, and compared to the same period in 2019 we have an increase of 9.4%. For the period January-September 2024, the highest number of registrations of Bulgarian tourists was recorded. We are fully succeeding in attracting the Bulgarian tourist – over 4.1 million. Romania are just under 900 thousand. Poland are close to 300 thousand. United Kingdom is over 200 thousand. Germany are 220 thousand. We need to definitely work towards the German markets here, because we need to bring back a lot of the levels that are even before 2019. We are talking about maybe 2016-2018 when we had a lot more German tourists in the country. That’s one point that we can take out – all of us together reaching out and working towards attracting more German tourists. Czechs are just under 200 thousand. The reported growth of Bulgarian tourists in accommodation compared to the same period in 2023 is 3.6%. Romanian tourists are up 2.8% and British tourists are up about 6%, below 7%. Czech tourists are up by 13.4%. With a total of 7.5 million registrations, tourists made less 25 million overnight stays, with an average stay per tourist of just over 3.3.”

These data were reported by Deputy Minister of Tourism Pavlin Petrov during the conference „Sustainable Tourism in Bulgaria: Challenges and Prospects“ held today in Burgas. The event was also attended by the Mayor of Burgas Municipality, mayors from the Burgas region, the airport operator „Fraport“, educational and business organizations. Petrov also reported:

“Tourism, and its related sub-industries, has generated a gross domestic product worth more than BGN 12 billion or about 6.9% of the country’s total GDP in 2023. The total number of people employed in tourism and related sub-industries has reached 283,000 in 2023, with year-on-year results for 2024 expected next year. /…/ Overnight stays for the period January-September 2024 – the growth in overnight stays according to the NSI is straight January-September 2023 is about 3% more compared to January-September 2019.”

The revenue from overnight stays stands at 2.1 billion for the period January-September 2024, the deputy minister said, specifying that it grew by 15.4 per cent over the same period in 2023. And compared to the same period in 2019, the increase is 50.4%.

“At the same time, the total revenue from foreign tourists, including accommodation, meals and other consumption for the period January-August 2024 amounted to more than 5.5 billion according to the BNB. For the period June-September 2024, tourist registrations in accommodation in Bulgaria exceed 5 million. Of these, Bulgarian tourists registered the most with over 2.4 million registrations. And the Romanian tourists have more than 730 thousand. The Polish tourists are over 240 thousand. And German tourists are over 170 thousand. Which again says that we have to make efforts here again and again, even in the off-season, to succeed in making Bulgaria attractive to German tourists. British tourists are over 150 000. Czech tourists are over 150 thousand”, said the Deputy Minister.

Of the total 5 million registrations in accommodation for the period June-September 2024, about more than 3 million were in the Black Sea districts, and about 2 million were inland, Petrov said. According to him, the achieved occupancy of beds for the whole period June-September 2024 at Golden Sands is over 60% and at Sunny Beach is over 70%, according to NSI data.

“These data show an achievement for Bulgarian tourism. But there is more to be desired and to continue on sustainable development in several directions. We certainly need to work on improving the quality of our product. If we work in this direction, we should also work in the direction of stimulating investments. Because without investment we cannot increase the tourism product. This is key for us and we as a country must work towards legislative initiatives, legislative changes, regulations that can allow more investment in tourism in every place in Bulgaria. From there, the service will improve accordingly and become much more competitive”, he pointed out.

At the same time, Mayor Dimitar Nikolov mentioned a worrying trend – Southeast Bulgaria has lost 1 million Russian-speaking tourists due to the war and everything possible must be found to compensate. In his words, more than 50,000 people are engaged in the tourist product in the Burgas region in the summer.

The strategy of the line ministry is to develop and approve a National Strategy for Sustainable Tourism Development and strategies for the development of individual types of tourism.

“Bulgaria has all the prerequisites to offer diverse tourism opportunities in four seasons. It is the wings that we are talking about, we need to saturate them with more events – whether it will be conferences, whether it will be music events, whether it will be some cultural event. We have already built quite a large base in terms of hotels, a lot has been invested in them. Most of the hotels have halls where certain events can take place. Burgas is a very good example of this. In the off-season they manage, through the sporting events, as sport is health and tourism is even more health – they manage to fill the attendance of the hotels and the restaurants in the city itself. In this way, during these events, we will have the opportunity for tourists to enjoy the culture and tradition of the place. Whether it will be tourists who will be foreign or from within the country – these are tourists who are travelling and they are enjoying their respective area, municipality and city. Sustainable tourism is the kind of tourism that strikes a balance between concern for nature and the environment, the well-being of local communities and economic prosperity. Our policy is aimed precisely at developing sustainable tourism”, he said.

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