Fewer Russian And German Tourists Will Spend Their Summer Vacation In Bulgaria

The Minister of TourismNikolina Angelkova announced that Bulgaria expects a 2-3 percent decrease for the forthcoming summer season. The forecast is based on the early bookings for the season.

Fewer Germany and Russia citizens are expected to spend their vacation at the seaside, because they are attracted by the extremely low prices of Bulgaria's direct competitors in tourism such as Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Serbia and Macedonia. However, there was an increase in early bookings for tourists from Ukraine - 50 percent, Great Britain - 19 percent, France - 10 percent, Czech Republic and Poland - 12 percent.

Angelkova explained that last-minute bookings may change the expectations and the levels from last year's summer season may be retained. According to her, the attractive prices offered by our direct competitors are due to the direct subsidization of the sector in these countries.

Angelkova said there was a 2% growth in domestic tourists. More and more Bulgarian citizens have visited tourist attractions and little known places in Bulgaria. Last year, out of a total 27 million nights spent in accommodation places with over 10 beds, 9 million were Bulgarian's.

The Minister reminded that most of the foreign tourists in the country are Romanians. More than 1.3 million citizens of Bulgaria's northern neighbor visited the country in the past year.