Positive Results Noted for Bulgarian Tourism after PR Campaign

Cultural artefacts and sites were stated to be the most common associations tourists have with Bulgaria.

The findings gathered after a communication campaign point to the fact that Germany is one of the major markets in Europe with an overall positive image of Bulgaria as a tourist destination. Romania is a key market in terms of revenue, while tourists in Poland, Russia and Ukraine show an overall positive perception of the country, with more room for development. The program was communicated through TV and print media there and reached over 59 million people, surpassing the 40 million predictions.

Among the goals of the PR project were the formation of a positive perception of Bulgaria and increased level of informedness for the country as a tourist site, as reported by the Bulgarian National Radio.

The total cost of the endeavour is BGN 7 M and will last for 36 months.

According to director of the project Anelia Genova, over 2 million people visited the websites advertised as opposed to the prognosed 200,000.

''The crisis PR implemented was of great help for the situation in the beginning of summer 2014,'' Genova added. ''If we had not launched the campaigns, the results would have been very different. The increase in demand is noted for Germany, Sweden, Poland and Romania. The decrease is registered for tourists from Russia and Ukraine, but that's understandable.''

Earlier today Tourism Minister Angelkova announced that tourist visits are expected to grow by 3-4% over the upcoming season.