Bulgaria Heightens Police Presence at Airports, Black Sea Coast

Starting from Wednesday, Bulgaria has heightened police presence at three of its airports and on the Black Sea Coast in order to ensure the safety of tourists with the start of the summer season.

Officers of border police, the gendarmerie and the specialised anti-terrorist unit have been deployed to the airports in Sofia, Varna and Burgas.

The routine measures include the setting up of temporary police checkpoints and periodical checks of people and vehicles traveling to and from the airports.

Although the measures are not expected to hamper traffic to the airport terminals, the interior ministry is advising passengers to plan longer travel time to the airport.

Due to the expectations for a successful summer season, the interior ministry will post 730 police officers to the Black Sea coast, who together with their colleagues from Dobrich, Varna and Burgas will ensure the safety of tourists.

Two thirds of police officers will be posted to the southern Black Sea coast, with particular attention paid to the largest resort Sunny Beach.

The established practice of conducting joint patrols with police officers from Romania, the Czech Republic and Greece will be continued.

At a meeting with ambassadors of the countries for which Bulgaria represents a popular tourists destination, Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvrova assured that the ministry is planning more police operations directed towards addressing concrete problems of foreign tourists.

This will include providing assistance to foreigner tourists with translation when they want to submit a signal or complaint.

British ambassador to Bulgaria, Her Excellency Emma Hopkins, assessed positively the efforts of Bulgarian authorities in this direction.

Hopkins noted that the meeting between ambassadors and political and professional leadership of the interior ministry has become a regular practice, taking place twice a year.

According to her, the fact that the interior minister is chairing the meeting shows the Bulgarian commitment to ensure the safety of tourists.

In the event of incidents, foreign tourists will be able to fill a form which has been translated into English, French, German and Russian.

Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova, who also attended the meeting, reminded that a hot line through which tourists can submit complaints and recommendations is in operation.

Within a month, information signs providing access to 24/7 telephone line will start functioning on each beach.

According to date of the interior and tourism ministries, the number of foreign tourists during the winter increased by 5 % compared to last year.

At the same time, the crime rate in the three main ski resorts of Borovets, Pamporovo and Bansko dropped in half.

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