In May 2011, the number of the trips of Bulgarian residents abroad was 333.2 thousand or 2.6% more than the number of the trips in May 2010, data by the National Statistics reveals.

An increase in the total number of the trips was registered namely to: Romania - by 22.0%, FYROM - by 21.4%, United Kingdom - by 18.4%, Hungary - by 16.7%, Israel - by 13.3%, Czech. Republic - by 13.2%, Malta - by 12.6%, France - by 9.9%, Russian Federation - by 8.9%, Sweden - by 8.7%, Luxembourg - by 8.7%, Portugal - by 7.9%, Austria - by 6.0% and etc. At the same time a decrease in the number of the trips was observed to: Canada - by 78.3%,

Norway - by 24.6%, Slovenia - by 23.3%, Lithuania - by 19.7%, Denmark - by 16.0%, Slovakia - by 10.0%, Italy - by 9.2%, Cyprus - by 6.8%, and etc.

The highest share of the trips of Bulgarian citizens travelling abroad had those with professional purpose - 40.6%, followed up by others - 36.7% and with holiday and recreation purpose - 22.7%.

In May 2011, the number of the arrivals of visitors from abroad to Bulgaria was 635.3 thousand or 7.1% more than the number of the trips in the corresponding month of 2010. A largest increase was registered in the number of visitors with holiday and recreation purpose and in the visitors passing transit by 10.8 and 6.7% respectively.

In May 2011, the arrivals of visitors from EU Member States increased by 4.3% in comparison to the same month of 2010. The highest growth in the number of visits was observed from Greece and Romania - 19.7 and 11.1% respectively. A decrease in the visits was registered from Luxembourg - by 35.4%, Finland - by 34.7%, Malta - by 25.1%, etc.

The visits of foreigners in the group "Other European countries" were increased by 9.1%. The largest growth in the number of the arrivals of citizens was observed from Ukraine - by 37.1%, Serbia - by 36.5% and Russian Federation - by 24.4%.

In May 2011, the arrivals with holiday and recreation purpose composed the greatest share of the total number of foreigners visited to Bulgaria - 44.3%, followed the visitors passing transit - 28.3%, professional purpose - 16.0% and others - 11.4%.