Bulgaria reckons upon increasing the tourist flow from Russia

The upcoming summer is going to be really hot for Bulgaria. And not only in terms of air and water temperature on the Black Sea coast. As was said by the country’s embassy trade mission in Russia Mr. Ilian Tsonev during the press-conference at the MITF-2100 trade fair, this year his country expects over 10% year-on-year increase of the tourist flow from Russia.

The chief of the Bulgarian consular service Mr. Angel Georgiev revealed that this year they issued 63% more entry visas (the most noticeable growth was recorded in February) compared to the same period last year. Herewith the number of individual trips has grown by 100% and the number of group trips has added 50%. According to Mr. Georgiev’s forecast this summer will be the busiest for the consulate since the introducing of the visa-regime between the two countries. Before the end of the year Bulgaria intends to issue over 300 thousand visas in Russia. Last year according to Rosstat’s data the Balkan country welcomed more than 263 thousand Russian tourists.