Less Russians, more Ukrainians visit Bulgaria for holidays

The number of tourists coming to Bulgaria for the 2019 summer season from Germany and Russia has declined, while 50% more Ukrainians are visiting the country, Bulgarian Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova has said, according to Novinite. 

Angelkova said that she hoped that these increases would compensate in the decrease in tourists coming to Bulgaria from Germany and Russia. 

Speaking at a meeting with Cabinet ministers and officials responsible for various aspects of the situation at Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, Angelkova said that there was a 50 per cent growth in the market from Ukraine, 19 per cent from the UK, 16 per cent from Israel, 12 per cent from France and 10 per cent each from the Czech Republic and Poland. 

She forecast some decline in the German market. “We have taken a number of steps and we are keeping track of what is happening so that we try to compensate from other markets,” Angelkova said. 

The decline in the number of tourists from Russia was not as steep as had been forecast at the beginning of the year, she added. 

Angelkova said that in 2019, the ministry was launching a new initiative, “The Day for You”, both on the northern and southern Black Sea coasts of Bulgaria. The idea is that for one day during the period from June 15 to September 8, admission to all museums and other cultural and historical tourist attractions in a municipality would be free of charge. The concept is to attract more visitors to these places.