Bulgaria hopes to accept charters with tourists from Russia

Representatives of the Bulgarian tourism industry said that they expect to start receiving organized Russian tourists in May, and shared their hopes for an early start of issuing visas to Russians. Air traffic between the two countries is still not restored, but last week the Bulgarian side announced that it plans to restore foreign tourist flow and conclude bilateral agreements to create "green tourist corridors", including with Russia.

According to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism of the country, Mariyana Nikolova, airports on the Black Sea and Sofia airport are ready to receive guests and have taken a number of measures to combat COVID-19. Only in the period from May to October in airports of Varna and Burgas it is planned to receive about 1 000 flights from Russia.

Since in Bulgaria everything is ready for the restoration of flights, decisions are awaiting from the Russian side.

The head of Solvex company Dimitar Tsonev said that the full tourist programs can be restored in a week. “There is a hope for an early resumption of flights. Bulgaria Air has already sent the documents to the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency,” he added.

“I think the real prospect for the first charters is in the second half of May. This should be facilitated by both the mutual desire to open the borders and the remaining demand. It is still small, but it is. Many Russian operators, such as Tui Russia, Anex Tour, Pegas, already have prepared Bulgarian programs. And as soon as a “green passport” is ready, we will be opened for everyone,” said Alper Ali, the chief representative of the Bulgarian Go2Holiday.