The Bulgarian cabinet allotted an extra EUR 7.5 million from the state budget for promotion of organized tourism in this country. Our focus is on the summer tourist season between June and the end of September, because analyses in the tourism sector show that organized tourist visits generate more revenues along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

The participants have to meet higher financial criteria and requirements. Only 15% of the sum is paid in advance and the rest of the money (85%) is given when it is certain that the endeavor yields the necessary results, Bulgaria’s Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova said at a briefing with the participation of business representatives and branch organizations.

Since 2015, the number of tourists visiting Bulgaria in an organized travel through tour agents decreased two-fold, especially those from the Russian tourist market. The procedure concerns four main tourist markets in Western and Central Europe, which will allow us to measure four concrete results. We want to be sure that the funds are spent efficiently. That is why the money will be paid when the number of tourists from these markets reach the preliminary targets in the summer season. Moreover, tourists must stay in accommodations registered in the Unified Tourist Information System (ESTI). We were assured that we can rely constantly on this financial mechanism and even receive a bigger budget, if the targeted results are achieved. This will help the Bulgarian tourism sector significantly.

The representatives of the Bulgarian business agreed that this initiative favors the whole tourism sector, because it allows the Bulgarian authorities to perform targeted marketing campaigns and do direct sales of tourist packages. Greece and Turkey allot plenty of money for advertisement and finance charter flights. From this point of view, we need to think how to stimulate Bulgarian business and make it competitive. 

This approach shows that the Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism is beginning to handle this money in a European manner and I am confident that the effect will be positive and that the tourist flow will increase with at least 10% by the end of 2020, Krasimir Stanev, Executive Director of Albena resort said and added:

The start of the tourist season was neither easy, nor difficult. I am confident that the move of the Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism will yield positive effect in the end. This will be due to the financial mechanism proposed by the Ministry of Finance that will serve as a kind of a financial injection. I can’t remember anyone else making such a move before, although I have spent my entire life in the tourism sector. All of us will feel the positive effect of these measures at the end of the year.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov