Bulgaria will not be opened for Russian tourists

Repeated outbreak of Covid-19 has thrown the country into outsiders, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova’s criteria

Bulgarian resorts "created for mass tourism" need at least 100 charter flights a day, says Plamen Kopchev, head of the association of Sunny Beach resort's hotels owners. However, it is doubtful that Bulgaria will get this quantity this season.

The current coronavirus situation with a peak of 330 new cases per day at the end of July will likely leave it closed to Russian tourists.

The new Bulgarian tourism minister has expressed hopes that the EU will open the border with Russia. Apart from the position of the most Brussels officials, Russia itself is unlikely to open the border with Bulgaria, since the situation with the coronavirus there now does not meet the criteria of Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova.

The experts carried out calculations of the Bulgarian covid situation. According to the Golikova’s criteria announced in mid-July, for resuming flights to foreign countries the number of coronavirus cases there must be about 40 infected per 100 thousand population. Such figures must be the same in the country for 14 days. Moreover, the average daily increase in the number of infected people and the spread of the disease in such countries should not exceed one percent.

Bulgaria does not correspond to this condition at all: the country has about 71 infected people per 100 thousand population. This is almost two times higher than the Golikova’s criterion.

Nevertheless, Bulgaria is confident that mass tourism will return, but not in this season.

So far, among foreign resorts the Turkish ones are fully opened for Russian tourists, the demand for which is breaking all records.