Bulgarian citizens registered more than 2 million additional overnight stays in the country in 2025 compared to 2019. This was announced to Bgtourism.bg by Veselin Danev, Chairman of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Hotel Association, during the World Travel Market in London. He referred to data from the National Statistical Institute for the first eight months of the two years — the current one and the last before COVID-19.
"We have a slight increase in the number of overnight stays - 22.3 million compared to 21.5 million in 2019. However, accommodation facilities are around 10% more, which means that actual occupancy is lower, but the market is growing in the high-quality segment," Danev commented.
He noted that the main growth is occurring in 4- and 5-star hotels, which are increasingly preferred by tourists. In 2019, these properties reported nearly 11.7 million overnight stays, whereas in 2025, by the end of August, they already exceeded 14.3 million, alongside an increase of about 40,000 beds in the higher category.
"The major growth comes from Bulgarian tourists: over 2 million more overnight stays compared to 2019. The total number of overnight stays by Bulgarians is 9,241,000, compared to 7,039,000 six years ago," Danev added.
He said Bulgarian tourists are the main driver of growth in 4- and 5-star hotels, where their overnight stays increased from 2,155,000 in 2019 to 4,112,000 this year.
Regarding foreign markets, growth is observed mainly in Romania and Ukraine, while other key markets - including Germany - still have not reached their 2019 levels.
"The Romanian market exceeded 3 million overnight stays for the first time, but economic uncertainty there is a factor to watch. Ukrainian visitors are also increasing, as Bulgaria remains an accessible destination for them, but once the conflict is resolved, some of these tourists will likely shift to other charter destinations," Danev told Bgtourism.bg.
Regarding the German market, he noted that there has been growth thanks to the successful “Erlebe Bulgarien” events carried out jointly with Fraport.
"We would like to hold a third edition, but to fully restore our 2019 position, more time and strong government support will be necessary. A major problem is the difficulty in developing charter programs from Germany, which places us at a disadvantage compared to competitors like Turkey and Greece," the BHA Chairman added.
Danev also highlighted several challenges for the sector, including low prices, the grey economy, and poor infrastructure.
Among the serious problems, he pointed out that official statistics do not fully capture accommodation offered through platforms like Airbnb.
"We conducted an analysis based on data from these platforms for Sofia, and it turned out that overnight stays in this segment are fully comparable to those in hotels. A large share of these properties do not pay tourist or patent taxes and do not contribute to local budgets, which creates unfair competition for the hotel sector," Danev commented.
