“What is taking place geopolitically at present is positive for the Bulgarian tourism,” said Bulgarian Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova, speaking Sunday for Nova TV.

“Both Turkey and Russia are essentially important tourism markets for us. They are among our main markets, so took the respective measures long before the current situation,” Angelkova stated.
 

“We held a roundtable with Russia, with representatives of the Russian national tourism agency, and leading big tour operators. Several others will be held next year; immediately after the roundtable intentions were voiced the number of Russian tourists would increase. The current situation will contribute to the increase being bigger than the initially said [figures],” Angelkova stated.
 

“I yesterday read a statement of Mikhail Maltsev, chair of the Ural Association of Tourism, in which he says Bulgaria stands the chance of welcoming a million and a half Russian tourists,” Minister Angelkova said further.
 

She noted 600,000 to 700,000 Russian tourists had paid annually visits to Bulgaria in the last 5 years, while this number was 450,000 at present.
 

“And he speaks about a million and a half, which is highly important. This is positive signal the next season will indeed be quite good compared to the previous one,” Angelkova commented.
 

“It is a fact we took these measures a lot earlier – a month and a half ago – and what is taking place geopolitically at present is positive for the Bulgarian tourism. It is highly important for us neighbouring countries are stable, we have a good economy, and, most of all, there are no problems […]. Both markets are highly important for us,” Nikolina Angelkova added.