The Political Situation and the Snowless Winter are Not Helping Tourism in Bulgaria

A better year in tourism is expected from the "Future of Tourism" Association. However, the political situation and the winter without snow are not in favor of the sector, said Pavlina Ilieva, president of the branch organization of tour operators.

The past year has been extremely busy for tour operators due to the measures for the coronavirus and the war that started in Ukraine at the beginning of the year. The two years of isolation and the lifting of measures unleashed people's desire to travel and the year was very strong for outbound tourism, Pavlina Ilieva pointed out.

"For inbound tourism, unfortunately, it was not so good for Bulgaria, because, you know, there was a problem with the Ukrainian crisis, which lasted for quite a long time. This stopped bookings from our traditional markets".

The market has changed significantly compared to the pre-pandemic 2019, and this has forced tour operators to be flexible in terms of the destinations offered, said Pavlina Ilieva. She noted:

"Tourism would follow, if we want to develop it in full and for it to be at the levels at which we observe our neighboring countries and other, of course, much more developed destinations than us, then we must make it a national policy If we make tourism a national policy, then things will take on a completely different profile. In order for us to develop the summer, that is, we must already have started with advertising. It must be quite serious, target markets must be made , to see according to price class what market we will offer, in which region of the country it will be for the respective market".

The political situation and the lack of a permanent government do not reflect well on the work of the sector. At the moment,...