Foreign tourists visiting Macedonia want to see churches and monasteries, they prefer sleeping in village guest houses and eating authentic Macedonian food, say Macedonian agencies that organize tours for guests from abroad, Telegraf.mk reports.
"Most tours we have lately are with guests from Turkey. They consist mainly from middle-aged people and we have special arrangements for them. Foreigners, in general, are mostly interested in visiting Skopje and Ohrid, where they usually stay," says the Travel Agency "Fibula Travel".
The website Exploring Macedonia also confirmed that the number of tourists interested in Macedonia has increased lately and most of the visitors independently explore the internet, searching for travel destinations.
People who consult their website for traveling to Macedonia are lovers of rural areas and eco-tourism. They are mostly staying in the country for three days and the most common profile of a tourist in Macedonia is a retiree who wants to sleep in a monastery.
The Tourist Agency 'GoMacedonia', which deals exclusively with incoming tourism, says they offer the so-called active tourism, which is quite different from what the traditional travel agents offer to foreign guests.
Turks are among the most numerous tourists in the country and they are interested in Macedonia as a country that has a part of the Ottoman cultural heritage.
"They visit the entire Balkan region where there is a cultural heritage of the Ottoman Empire. Their trips usually start in Thessaloniki and afterwards they come here and then go through Prizren, Kosovo and Sarajevo," explains Dimitar Georgievski, Manager of 'GoMacedonia'.
'GoMacedonia' also organizes several tours for foreign visitors annually. This year, they offer ten tours: three from Latvia, then Serbia, France, Great Britain and Australia. The guests start the tour with visit to Skopje, where they want to see all the cultural and historical landmarks, to learn about the various cultures that have passed here, and prefer staying in four-star hotels.
The number of foreign tourists in February increased by 4% compared to February last year, according to the State Statistical Office. At the same time, the number of overnight stays by foreigners in the first two months this year increased to 63,937 from 62,309 last year, which is an increase of 2.6%.
According to the resort type where guests are staying, the State Statistics Bureau data show that most of the foreign guests stay in Skopje hotels with four and five stars.
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