Bulgaria expects 5% growth in foreign tourists

We expect a very good growth for tourists in the summer of 2018, which we can not achieve without the active business partnership. This was announced by the Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova at the opening of the new season in Sunny Beach. She predicts a 5% increase in foreign summer visits compared to a record 2017 and predicts growth in markets such as Germany, Israel, Poland, the Czech Republic, France, even in the US, where the Bulgaria used digital advertising campaign for the first time last year.

The Minister pointed out that summer holidays on the Black Sea coast are among the most preferred by tourists in Bulgaria. This makes sea tourism a key product for the sustainable development of the entire sector. Over 70 per cent of tourists come to Bulgaria for a summer vacation, she underlined, recalling that in the period June-September 2017, foreign tourist visits were more than 5.3 million. We expect the Bulgarians traveling during this period to increase to 1.9 million compared to 1.6 million a year earlier.

Minister Angelkova congratulated the local authorities and the management of Sunny Beach for their efforts to develop our largest resort complex as more hospitable and attractive. More visitors are also expected here during the season. One indicator is the increased number of flights to Bourgas Airport. The current data is for the growth of 18% of the aircraft, more are the requested flights from Germany, Poland, Great Britain, the Czech Republic and Israel. Over the past summer, the overnight stays in the resorts were over 756 thousand, and overnight stays of more than 5 million. Nearly 6% is the increase in the overnight stays, reaching almost BGN 270 million.