Hotel occupancy in Bulgaria last year dropped to 24.9 per cent, the lowest level since 2005. Against the backdrop of increasing number of beds in the last five years, statistics record a constant decline of occupancy. In 2005 it was 35.4 per cent, and in 2008 it was already 30.1 per cent. Last year, however, registered the largest annual drop - 5.2 per cent - which hoteliers explain with the crisis.

According to National Statistical Institute (NSI) data, the occupancy per night at hotels and other accommodation establishments numbered over 15 million, or by 2.8 million less than a year earlier, which means a decline of 16 per cent. A week ago Eurostat reported that the drop of night occupancies in Bulgaria was three times over the average in the EU and reached 16.5 per cent.

European statistics show that 14.2 million nights were spent at hotels, but that does not include establishments which offer only cleaning of the room. NSI, however, reports that revenue from night occupancy is decreasing at a smaller rate. In 2009 hotels and other establishments offering accommodation registered a total of 626.5 million leva from overnights, which is by 15.5 per cent less than a year earlier.

Meanwhile, statistics also report that tourism has picked up since the beginning of 2010. In January, the trips of foreigners to Bulgaria numbered nearly 305,000, which is an increase of 14.3 per cent compared to the same month in 2009. There is a tangible increase of visits from Serbia and Macedonia whose citizens already travel to the EU without visas.

Over 18,000 trips of Serbs to Bulgaria were registered in the first month of the year, which is an increase of 33.8 per cent, as well as over 30,000 trips of Macedonians or 28.4 per cent year-on-year. Among EU member-states the largest number of visits were registered from Greece. In January (the last 10 days of which coincided with the beginning of the farmers' blockade of the border) trips from Greece to Bulgaria exceeded 76,000, nearly 50,000 of which were with tourist objectives.

This means a growth of 13.4 per cent compared to a year earlier. Visits of guests from Great Britain, which are the largest group of tourists at ski resorts in this country, have increased too. In January they numbered over 15,000 or 6.1 per cent more than in the same month the previous year. Slightly over 11,000 of these were with a tourist objective, NSI data show.

Source: BTA