It will become more difficult for tourists to obtain visas to Bulgaria

The Bulgarian authorities have changed the rules for issuing tourist visas to Russians. Two more mandatory items have been added to the list of documents.

Now, citizens of the Russian Federation planning to travel to the Republic for tourism purposes will have to provide confirmation from the host travel agency (if the trip is organized through a tour operator) and hotel reservation. In this case, visas will be issued exclusively for the duration of the trip - it must coincide with the information specified in the voucher and with the data from hotel on the period of the guest’s accommodation.

Additionally, booking a room through Booking.com will no longer be a sufficient basis for issuing a tourist visa. Representatives of the consular service of the Bulgarian Embassy note that the innovations have only organizational nature, not political.

As tour operators note, these innovations will only affect independent tourists. It will not be difficult for companies to obtain additional papers from partners. Of course, the cost of the visa itself will increase, but not significantly.

However, there are a number of changes that affect not only tourists. For example, a long-term visa is now issued exclusively upon application by the applicant himself. Help from partners in this case was prohibited.