Visa Regime Hampers Turkish Tourists to Visit Bulgaria

Turkey has advised Bulgaria to focus on winter instead of summer tourism. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria is missing out on huge investments from tourists because of its hampered visa regime with Turkey, according to Turkish experts.

According to the commercial counselor of the Turkish Embassy in Sofia, Zafer Soylu, Bulgaria should not focus on sea resorts, which have competition on the Balkans, but should rather develop winter, balneological and historical tourism that would be of interest to Turkish tourists.

He has added that the tourism sector cannot be considered separately from the common trade and economic relations between the two countries.

"The latest data showed that the Turkish population is 74 million people, but the GDP is constantly increasing and so is the purchasing power of the population. As a result, the number of Turkish tourists around the world increases significantly every year. Bulgaria should increase its potential and take advantage of that," Soylu said.

In his words, many Turkish tourists want to visit Bulgaria because it has great nature and thermal springs.

"It is unnecessary to even mention the ski resorts, Black Sea coast and the cultural-historical heritage Bulgaria has. But the biggest obstacle before Turkish tourists who want to spend their money in Bulgaria is the visa regime," Soylu said.

In his opinion, if the visa problem is solved, tourism would be the major sector that the two countries will develop.

"Out of 74 million Turkish citizens, only 26 000 have visited Bulgaria. However, out of 7.5 million Bulgarians, the number of your tourists in our country is much bigger," Soylu said.

According to Turkish businessmen, the two countries have many similarities, such as habits , culture and cuisine, and is only a question of good management for every country, including Bulgaria, to finds its exact place on the market.

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