Tourist trips and tourism related expenditure of the population - Second quarter of 2025 - preliminary data

In the second quarter of 2025, 1.3 million Bulgarian residents^[1] made tourist trips. The majority of them - 67.5%, travelled only in the country, 25.8% - only abroad, and 6.7% - both in the country and abroad. Compared to the same quarter of 2024, the number of travelled persons aged 15 and over increased by 4.1% (Figure 1).

Most Bulgarian citizens who travelled were aged 25 - 44 years - 457.5 thousand, or 36.3% of all travellers. The share of trips in the country dominated in all age groups, the highest (73.2%) being the share among persons aged 65 and over. The share of residents aged 45 - 64 who travelled abroad (28.4% of the total travellers in this group) was the highest compared to the other age groups (Figure 2).

^[1] The objects of the survey are the residents of 15 years of age and over.

 The majority of tourist trips in the country (50.6%) and abroad (83.5%) were with ‘holiday and recreation’ purpose (Figure 3).

Registered as independent were 1.6 million, or 83.3% of the total number of private tourist trips. The relative share of independent trips without booking was 91.3% in the country and 58.8% abroad (Figure 4).

In the expenditure structure by type, with the highest relative share on domestic and outbound trips, was the expenditure on food - 42.6% and 34.5% (Figure 5).

The average expenditure on private trips per person was 296.83 BGN in the country and 858.55 BGN abroad (Figure 6).

 At the same time, the average expenditure per person on a professional trip was 280.95 BGN in the country and 1 234.39 BGN abroad (Figure 7).

Methodological notes

Since 2012, the survey of the tourist trips and tourism-related expenditure of the population has been carried out in compliance with Regulation 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism and Commission implementing Regulation 1051/2011 implementing Regulation 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism, as regards the structure of the quality reports and the transmission of the data.

The survey is representative and is conducted on the basis of a households’ sample in the country. The objects of the survey are residents aged 15 and older in Bulgaria. All persons aged 15 and older, members of the selected households are interviewed. For the estimation of the survey’s results, current demographic data on the total population aged 15 and older by place of residence (urban/rural), sex and age groups as of the end of 2024 are used.

Tourist trips - every private or professional trip taken by people outside of the place where they live for a period no longer than one year, with a main purpose different from any activity for payment.

The tourist trips can be as follows:

Private - holidays, cultural visits and sport events, medical treatment, education, religious activities, visits of relatives and friends, and others.

Professional - business trips and deals, participation in conferences, congresses and seminars, and others.

A visitor is a traveller, taking a trip to a main destination outside his/her usual environment for no longer than one year, whose main purpose is not doing any activities for payment. People travelling daily or weekly for work, study, shopping, visiting a physician and others are excluded from the definition of a visitor.

The usual environment of a person includes places located near his/her home as well as frequently visited places. It has two aspects - the vicinity and the frequency of the visits. Places located close to the place of residence of a person are part of the usual environment, even if they are rarely visited. For example, even if the place where the villa or vacation house is located is near to home, but is rarely visited, it is part of the usual environment of a person.