3,644,791 foreign nationals visited Bulgaria during the first six months of 2018. In this way the period January – June grew 8.9% on the same period of 2017, figures released by the National Statistical Institute suggest. In June 2018 alone, foreign visits to Bulgaria grew 4.7% of the same period of last year. In June 2018, 1,208,397 foreign tourists stayed in this country.

“Growth in tourism is stable, and Bulgaria has emerged as a preferred destination offering value for money. Most important of all, we hope that the guests who have traveled to Bulgaria will return sometime in the future,” commented Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova. During the first six months the largest numbers of tourists arrived from Romania575,609 accounting for a rise of 21.1% on the same period of last year. Growth is strongest of tourists from Poland at 38.4%, and from Israel at 27.6%. According to the expert from the Institute for Tourism Analysis and Assessment Roumen Draganov, estimated for the whole of 2018, Bulgaria will achieve growth of 5.5% in the number of tourists. In July and August, the number of foreign tourists in Bulgaria is projected to exceed 2 million.