Tourism minister Angelkova: Bulgaria is a safe holiday destination, tourist season starts on 1 July

The active summer tourist season will start on July 1, Bulgaria’s Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova told BNT’s current affairs show “More from the Day” on May 27.

"We have an extremely clear plan and strategy in this difficult situation, which is unpredictable and unexpected both for the tourism sector, which is directly affected, and for everyone. No one could have predicted in any way that this would happen and we have to deal with it," Tourism Minister said.

Minister Angelkova thanked the Prime Minister and MPs for their support for the changes in the Health Act. "This allows us on the threshold of the summer season to have 50% reduced prices for umbrellas and sunbeds, which is very important to promote domestic tourism and visits to our Black Sea coast. There are 23 free-of-charge beaches at the moment, she explained.

At the same time, a communication campaign was launched both in relation to the country’s domestic market and to target markets.

"Thanks to the initiative of the Bulgarian Prime Minister with the Prime Ministers of Greece and Romania and the President of Serbia, our border will be opened for tourists on June 1. Romania is an extremely important market for us," Angelkova added.

She pointed out that active talks are being held with Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, France, the Scandinavian countries to open our borders for tourism.

Our biggest advantage is that Bulgaria is one of the countries with the lowest percentage of coronavirus infections and one of the countries that is considered a safe destination, Angelkova added.