Bulgarian Deputy Minister Predicts 5-6% More Tourists in Summer 2012

Tourism | April 9, 2012, Monday // 17:37|  views

Photo by dariknews.bg

A successful tourist season could bring revenues of over BGN 3 B for Bulgaria against a 5-6% increase in number of tourists, according to Ivo Marinov, Deputy Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism.

Marinov attended Monday the signing of five contracts worth a total of BGN 20.5 M between the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism and the Managing Authority of Operational Program "Regional Development" for the development of tourism.

The contracts were signed by Delyan Dobrev, Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism and Lilyana Pavlova, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works.

The five contracts are part of the framework agreement of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism under the "Efficient National Marketing Support of the Tourist Product and Information Service. Improvement" grant scheme.

Over BGN 2 M of the total sum will be spent on research and analyses of the efficiency of the national marketing, over BGN 3 M will go to encouraging internal tourism in the country and some BGN 6.2 M will be spent on promoting Bulgaria on Euronews, Eurosport, National Geographic and Discovery.

Apart from that, BGN 7 M has been earmarked for integrated communication campaigns of the country in Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, and Sweden and some BGN 1.5 M will be spent on Bulgaria's participation in specialized exchanges and expos.

In a Monday statement, the Deputy Minister predicted a 5-6% increase in tourist flows in the summer season and a growth of up to 20% in visitors from Russia.

"There are all preconditions for this. In February, the Council of Ministers decided that Bulgaria should admit nationals of third countries having Schengen visas. Besides, Russia's Federal Aviation Service allowed all Russian charters to fly to Bulgaria in the period June-September 2011, which led to a reduction in the prices of holiday packages for Russian citizens," Marinov added, commenting on the anticipated spike in Russian tourists.

He specified that 455 000 Russians had visited Bulgaria in 2011, the fourth biggest group.

Romanian tourists constituted the largest group for 2011, followed by Greeks and Germans.

"I oppose claims that our country has an image of a cheap destination and a destination for alcohol tourism," Marinov commented, adding that the aim of the planned projects was to assert the image of the country as a year-round destination offering excellent conditions for balneology and SPA tourism, eco and rural tourism and golf tourism.

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Tags: Ivo Marinov, Minister of Economy and Energy, Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Delyan Dobrev, Lilyana Pavlova, Regional Development Minister, operational program, regional development

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