10% More Foreign Tourists In 2008

10.4% percent more foreign tourists have visited the country in the past year.Income from international tourism for the eleven months of the year has increased by 11.5%. This was announced at a press conference by the chair of the State agency on tourism Anelia Krushkova.The countries from the EU continue to be the main generating market for our country, as tourists from these countries are 73.4% of all foreigners who visited the country.The greatest is the increase of visitors from Romania, Greece, Germany, Great Britain and Slovenia.The tendency for increase of Central European visitors continues - Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia.The greatest decrease of tourists marks the Japanese market - 20%, followed by Turkey, Belarus and Israel.In the last month of 2008 for the first time a decrease of the tourist flow towards Bulgaria by 5.5% is observed. Due to the global financial crisis, forecasts for the summer season remain difficult.The tendency of delayed enrollments of tourists can lead to a shortage of funds for hotel owners, who may experience difficulties in the renewal of the base, Anelia Krushkova commented.