site.btaTourism Minister: Bulgaria Will Be Promoted in Neighbouring Countries as High-Season Destination for September

"The weather is fine, so I think we'll be able to extend the high tourist season into September," caretaker Tourism Minister Ilin Dimitrov said on NOVA Television Sunday morning.

Dimitrov expects the summer of 2022 to be better than last year's, but it will still be some 20-25% weaker than the 2019 season.

A publicity campaign will try to attract vacationers on the local market and from neighbouring Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece and Turkey. To this end, the minister will visit some of these countries and meet with his counterparts.

Calling on his fellow countrymen to opt for a vacation on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, the interviewee recalled that they can already pay in food vouchers. He hopes that between BGN 200 and 300 million, out of a total of BGN 1 million allocated for vouchers, will be spent on tourist services.

Dimitrov singled out three pressing problems of the sector that need to be addressed: a summer season amidst a COVID pandemic, delays in payments to hoteliers for accommodating Ukrainan refugees, and hotels' star rating, where 960 cases are overdue.