TIRANA (Albania), May 19 (SeeNews) - The number of foreign nationals who visited Albania in the first four months of the year rose by 13.4% to 961,392, the statistical office, INSTAT, said on Friday.

Visitors who visited Albania for the purpose of recreation represented 24.4% of all foreign nationals, or 234,779, INSTAT said.

By comparison, 91,577 foreign nationals visited Albania for recreational purposes in January-April 2016, or 10.8% of the total number of foreign visitors, INSTAT said citing data from the state police directorate.

Details on purpose of visit of foreign nationals to Albania follow:

Jan-April'17 Jan-April'16 Total foreign visitors to Albania 961,392 847,850 Personal purpose 943,201 831,357 - recreation, vacation 234,779 91,577 - visiting relatives 3,414 3,854 - one-day visits 24,069 31,089 - medical treatment 222 227 - religious purpose 184 353 - other 636,013 660,077 - transit 44,520 44,180 Business and professional trips 18,191 16,493

In April alone, Albania was visited by 359,452 foreign nationals, up 25.7%. Out of the total, 119,921 came to Albania for recreational purpose.

The largest part of foreign citizens in April, or 35%, came from Kosovo, followed by Macedonia with 13.7% and Greece with 12.2%.

Most of the foreign visitors entered Albania by land - 81.8%, 12.7% arrived by air and 5.5% came by sea.