Winter tourism in Bulgaria depends primarily on Russian and British tourists, but due to regulation problems attributed mainly to the issuing of visas to Russians, the country's winter tourist season could be facing hard times, Donka Sokolova, head of the Association of Bulgarian Travel Agents, told Focus news agency on November 16 2009.
The Bulgarian tourist sector says that 75 per cent of its revenue is attributed to the summer season, 10 per cent to the winter season and the remaining 15 per cent from "cultural tourism". As far as the winter season is concerned, it relies predominantly on British and Russian tourists, but citizens from the latter destination are required to obtain an entry visa to Bulgaria, which has been increased by 12 euro.
"We met foreign ministry officials and hope Bulgarian tourist agencies will have visas issued in the Bulgarian consulates," Focus news quoted Sokolova as saying.
"An hour ago, however, I was told that five charter flights from Russia to Bulgaria, which were due at Christmas and New Year’s Eve, have been cancelled," Sokolova said.
Sokolova believes that if appropriate measures are taken, the potential Russian decline could be offset by an increase of British tourists.
In 2008, overall net revenues from the Bulgarian tourism amounted to 1450 billion euro, the report says.
:Article Source:sofiaecho.com
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