Services to the population up by 4.7 pct year-on-year in January

Services to the population increased by 4.7 percent in January, with the travel sector experiencing most growth, data released by the National Institute of Statistics shows.

In January activities of tourist agencies and tour operators, as well as hotels and restaurants contributed to the 4.7 percent year-on-year increase in turnover in the sector of services delivered to the population,

Compared to December 2016, in the period under survey, services to the population, as gross series, recorded a volume of the turnover down by 7.7 percent, due to -40.6 percent decrease in the services of hairdressing and other beauty sector services, activities of washing, cleaning and dying textiles and fur (-18 percent), activities of tour operators and tourist agencies (-11.9 percent), hotels and restaurants (-11.6 percent).

Compared to December 2016, in the first month of January there was an increase in gambling activities and other recreative activities (+4.8 percent).

The volume of turnover for market services delivered to the population, adjusted series according to work days and season, in January 2017 compared to the previous month, increased by 2.5 percent.

According to the INS, the services delivered to the population as gross series, recorded in January 2017 increased 4.7 percent year-on-year, due to an increase in activities of tourist agencies and tour operators (+8.4 percent), activities of hotels and restaurants (+5.9 percent), gambling and other leisure activities (1.8 percent), hairdressing and other beauty activities (1.4 percent) and activities of washing, cleaning and dying textiles and fur (+1 percent).