Bulgarians' Tourism Spending Figures - Too Good to be True

Holidaymakers on the beach in Bulgarian Black Sea resort Obzor. Photo by BGNES

EU statistical office has deleted figures about Bulgarians ranking fourth in the united bloc by spending on holiday trips and tourism, proving media speculations they were too good to be true.

Earlier this week Eurostat published surprising data, which showed that despite the financial crisis and the lowest wages in the EU, a Bulgarian national spent an average EUR 2100 on holiday trips and tourism in 2011.

According to the ranking Bulgarians were preceded only by the citizens of Luxembourg, Denmark and France.

The statistics prompted journalists to raise additional questions about the way the data has been collected and it turned out to be the fault of the local institute methodology. Its definition for tourism expenses encompasses all types of trips, including immigrant's travels and students going abroad for training.

Bulgaria's national statistics institute however has assured that its work is fully compliant with the requirements of the European Union and Eurostat.

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