10,604,396
is the number of foreigners who visited Bulgaria in 2016 according to data from the National Statistical Institute. This represents an increase of 13% on 2015, but this record will not stand, and the culprit is low-cost carrier Ryanair.
In October 2016, the airline launched 21 new destinations to Bulgaria from all over Europe at promotional prices. It turns out that a French family can get round-trip tickets to Sofia for the price of one lunch at the local brasserie. This is the beginning of the Ryanair effect.
We met with our friends from Association 365 (Sofia Free Tour) and they told us how traditionally August is the strongest month for tourists, but in 2016 both October and November and December the guides of the wonderful NGO were busier than in August. To the question of how they expect 2017 to develop, they answered unequivocally - a record.
The data confirms the expectations of Association 365 and the Ryanair effect. In January 2017, Bulgaria was visited by 454,634 foreign citizens, and for the same period in 2016, the number was 410,085. The growth for the month of February is twice as big: +20.5%. Now everyone is frantically preparing for the summer season, which is expected to break all attendance records both on the Black Sea and in Sofia and Plovdiv.
Where are all these people staying?
The bed base in Bulgaria is limited and will be overcrowded in the summer.
This statement may seem false to you, but let's look at the data for Sofia and Plovdiv. According to NSI, the number of beds in accommodation facilities in the capital in October 2016 was 11,763, and in Plovdiv - 8,972. In this month, our country was visited by 678,576 foreign citizens who did not come to ski or sea. Can you guess where many of these people are staying?
Airbnb.
