site.btaUPDATED Foreign Tourists in First Half of June Increase by 30%, Y/Y

Over 330,000 visits by foreign tourists were registered at accommodation establishments in Bulgaria (mainly on the coast) in the first half of June. This implies an increase by 30% compared with a year earlier. "We would like to see the same pace of growth throughout the whole season, but we are dependent on the course of the war in Ukraine," Deputy Tourism Minister Irena Georgieva said, interviewed by BTA.

Tourists are coming from such countries as Romania, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and Czechia, Georgieva said. In the case of Romania, the flow of tourists in the first half of June doubled, year on year, and visits from Poland almost doubled. Growth has also been recorded for the source markets of the United Kingdom and Germany.

Bulgarian tourists travelling domestically in the first half of June numbered 185,000, about as many as a year previously. Georgieva attributed the lack of a tangible increase in domestic travel to a natural desire to visit more distant places now that COVID restrictions have been lifted.

So far, flight bookings to the Bulgarian seaside cities of Varna and Burgas have increased by 42% compared with the summer of 2021. "This shows that people are interested in destination Bulgaria," Georgieva commented. During the whole season, air tourist travel is expected to expand by 30-40%.

If the proposal to allow food vouchers to be used in tourism as well is incorporated in the planned update of the state budget, it will bring the double benefit of aiding the economy and allowing more people to rest properly, Geogieva said.

Compensation for accommodation of Ukrainians

Next week, nearly BGN 7 million will be transferred to another 95 legal entities operating in tourist sites that have not yet received their money for April under the "40 leva" measure for hoteliers that have accommodated Ukrainian refugees, Georgieva said. The payment of the money will become possible after the government adopts a draft decision of the Council of Ministers, submitted by the Ministry of Tourism. The money is for the second stage of the measure, April 1-30, for which the funds were not fully paid.

So far, the first period of accommodation of Ukrainian refugees in hotels, February 24 – March 31, and the second period, April 1-30, has been paid. The final payment to the hoteliers and the state holiday bases will be in July.

Georgieva explained that the delay in payment was due to the difficult way of processing applications, the large mismatch between unique identification codes of sites and other inaccuracies that need to be fixed before a payment is approved.

With the BGN 7 million expected to be paid next week, the state has paid a total of BGN 77.052 million with VAT to about 500 to 700 legal entities operating in tourist sites.