The record high temperatures sweeping across Bulgaria seem to bode well for Bulgaria tourism, with weekend bookings – in Bulgaria’s mountains or villages – “activated” as early as the beginning of April. The warm weather brought the first impatient beach-goers out to the beaches along the black Sea coast as well. The coming Easter – this year it falls on 5 May – looks like being a record vacation period for tourism since 2019.
The preferred foreign destinations for the Easter holidays are the neighbouring Balkan counties, but also Italy, Spain, the UK and other European counties. “But we are expecting Bulgarians to travel most of all inside Bulgaria, with the choice most often falling on our spa and mountain resorts, as well as the Black Sea,” says tourism expert Konstantin Zankov, and adds:
“Overall, we are expecting the number of trips to be between 900,000 and 1 million for the holiday period – from 1 to 10 May. That means around 800,000 Bulgarians are going to travel inside Bulgaria, and another almost 150,000 – to other countries. But that includes all forms of tourism, counting visits with friends and relatives as well. In previous years we had about 600,000 people travelling over this period but this year their number is around 1 million which is a significant increase.” 
This year 1 May, Easter and Gergyovden (St. George’s day) fall on several consecutive days at the beginning of May. So, people are taking a long spring vacation, taking a couple of days off to combine their holidays. “The expected price rise in the industry is by 5-10% but that is something normal because demand is what determines supply. Bulgarians are accustomed to booking early which means better holiday expenses planning,” Konstantin Zankov says.
Inflation, the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East, political instability and the upcoming elections are not having any effect on Bulgarians’ plans to travel. The same is true of the tourists from abroad, who are choosing Bulgaria this spring as a cheap and attractive destination.
“For the Easter holidays we are expecting around 80,000 foreigners to come to Bulgaria. For many of them, Bulgaria is a traditional Easter destination, and a destination for a spring break before the coming summer. The summer season looks like being a good one as well. We have more scheduled flights from the British tourist market, bookings are going well from Poland and there is a slight increase from Germany where, unfortunately, we are yet to regain the lost ground. The reason is that the season there is planned much earlier so as to have charters. I am hoping we shall be able to reach 2019 levels which was a record year on a global scale,” Konstantin Zankov explains. 
Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen area by air and by sea is not having any effect on Bulgarian tourism, but it does make travel for Bulgarians and for foreigners faster and more pleasurable, he adds. “Bulgaria’s entry into Schengen by land, however will lead to a significant increase in travel to as well as from Bulgaria,” Konstantin Zankov says.
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Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photos: BGNES
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