National Statistical Institute

"Statistics of Tourism and Business Surveys" Department

Tsvetana Mitkova, Emil Stanchev, Boris Bonev

State Expert, Chief Expert, Chief Expert

2, P. Volov Str., 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

+359 2 9857 142

+359 2 9857 261

+359 2 9857 681

Trips of Bulgarian residents abroad by purpose of trip and by country; visits of foreign citizens to Bulgaria by purpose of trip and by country.

Nomenclature of the countries and territories by statistical purposes.

The survey covers foreign citizens aged 15 years and over visiting Bulgaria by country, by month and by purpose of visit, and Bulgarian citizens aged 15 years and over travelling abroad by month and by purpose of trip.

An international tourist is any visitor arriving in a country other than the country of his/her usual residence for a period not exceeding one year and whose main purpose is other than carrying out an activity remunerated from within the place visited.

The purposes of visiting a country are the following:

• excursion, holiday or recreation (visits to cultural or historical sites, sports events and others);
• visits to relatives or friends;
• business purposes (business trips, conferences, congresses and symposia, etc.);
• other purposes of visit.

Trip/visit made by a Bulgarian or foreign citizen.

Bulgarian and foreign citizens who made an international trip from or to the Republic of Bulgaria during the reference month.

For trips of Bulgarian citizens – countries/destinations abroad; for visits of foreign citizens – the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.

From January 2008 to the last reference month of the current year.

2008

Number

Monthly, Annually

• Gentlemen’s agreement with the World Tourism Organization.
• Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism;
• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics;
• Statistics Act;
• National Statistical Programme for the respective year;
• Agreements/administrative exchange of data with the Ministry of Interior, Civil Aviation Administration, Road Infrastructure Agency and other competent institutions;
• Methodological recommendations of the World Tourism Organization.

Individual data are not provided for public use.

• Statistics Act:  https://www.nsi.bg/en/documents/detail/1
• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), provides for common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and access to confidential data, taking into account technical developments and user requirements in a democratic society. Regulation - 223/2009 - EN - EUR-Lex 

Individual data are not published (suppressed), in compliance with Article 25 of the Statistics Act.

The dates for publication of statistical information are specified in the NSI Release Calendar.

The calendar is available on the NSI website: https://www.nsi.bg/en/calendar

Data are published on the NSI website in the Tourism section - „Trips of Bulgarian Residents Abroad and Visits of Foreign Citizens to Bulgaria“, in accordance with the Statistics Act and the European Statistics Code of Practice, ensuring professional independence, objectivity, transparency and equal access for users.

Monthly.

Monthly.

• Statistical Reference Book;
• Statistical Yearbook;
• Brochure "Bulgaria"

Monthly and annual results from the Survey on trips of Bulgarian residents abroad and visits of foreign citizens to Bulgaria are available in the INFOSTAT online statistical information system under the topic Business Statistics, subtopic Tourism: https://www.nsi.bg/en/infostat.

Micro data are not disseminated.

Not applicable.

Methodology of the survey „Trips of Bulgarian Residents Abroad and Visits of Foreign Citizens to Bulgaria“ in relation to the accession of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Schengen Area. 

Not available.

Quality control and quality assurance procedures are applied at all stages of the statistical process.

The quality of statistical information is assessed through analysis of consistency, comparability and stability of the results over time and between the different data sources.

 The quality and stability of the results for land routes without border control also depend on the completeness, regularity and technical reliability of the administrative data provided by the Road Infrastructure Agency.

Users include the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Tourism, Bulgarian National Bank, regional and municipal administrations, tourism organizations, research institutions, international organizations and others.

No user satisfaction survey has been conducted.

The data meet the completeness requirements according to the recommendations of the World Tourism Organization.

The accuracy of the results is supported through the use of integrated administrative and statistical sources, as well as validation, weighting and calibration procedures.

The results represent statistical estimates derived from a sample survey and are accompanied by stochastic error.

Possible non-sampling errors are limited through validation procedures, logical checks, editing and calibration of the data.

Data are published monthly according to the NSI Release Calendar.

The publication dates are observed.

Not applicable.

Data are comparable over time under a unified methodological framework. When changes occur in sources, scope or methods, they are documented and, where necessary, calibration, historical data and other statistical approaches are applied to preserve comparability.

The data are developed in accordance with the applicable statistical definitions and classifications.

Internal coherence is ensured through integrated data processing and consistency checks between the administrative and statistical sources used.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

• Ministry of Interior (MoI);
• General Directorate "Civil Aviation Administration" (CAA);
• "Bulgarian State Railways" (BDZ);
• Road Infrastructure Agency, National Toll Administration (RIA);
• NSI sample statistical survey using standardized questionnaires.

Monthly

The data on the number and structure of trips are compiled through the integrated use of administrative and statistical sources, including information from the Ministry of Interior, Civil Aviation Administration, Bulgarian State Railways, Road Infrastructure Agency and a monthly sample statistical survey.

Logical checks, consistency checks and comparability checks are applied between the different sources and over time.

Processing includes:

• separate standardization of data by source, aggregation by period, destination, direction, mode of transport, country of registration/citizenship and purpose;
• deduplication of RIA data through elimination of repeated detections of the same vehicles within a short time interval and overlapping cameras;
• identification and exclusion of non-tourist (regularly crossing) vehicles and accounting for transit traffic;
• conversion of the number of vehicles into number of persons through the application of the relevant coefficients;
• coding of free-text responses;
• editing where necessary;
• imputation of missing values through Historical Imputation and Hot-deck Imputation; 
• weighting, calibration and production of final statistical estimates;
• Data processing and integration are carried out in a specialized software environment enabling automated application of validation, deduplication, imputation and calibration algorithms.

No seasonal adjustment is applied.