Bulgarian EconMin Sets on Trip to Israel

Bulgarian Economy Minister Delyan Dobrev (left) with Israeli Minister of Tourism Stas Mesizhnikov in Sofia on July 23. Photo by BGNES

Bulgarian Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister, Delyan Dobrev, left Monday for a two-day visit to Israel.

The news was reported by the Bulgarian news agency BTA.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz writes that Dobrev will meet with Israeli industry and tourism officials in an effort to expand cooperation. It also informs that government officials are slated to meet in Jerusalem in September, followed by a state visit in October by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev.

According to the publication, officials at the Israeli Tourism Ministry are eager to increase the number of Bulgarian tourists visiting their country and hope the Minister's visit will get the process under way.

In the first half of the year, 11% more Bulgarians visited Israel compared with the same period a year earlier. Still, far more Israelis are making their way to Bulgaria. For all of last year, more than 8 000 Bulgarians came here, compared with the 139 000 Israelis who visited Bulgaria, Haaretz writes.

The Israeli media cites a poll conducted by the country's Tourism Ministry among visitors from Eastern Europe last year where 36% of the respondents said they were coming to Israel on a religious pilgrimage. In the survey, 8% said they were in the country on business.

The publication further notes that Dobrev's visit comes less than two weeks after the terror attack at the "airport of the Bulgarian resort town of Burgas," where "a suicide bomber killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver."

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