Bulgaria has the capacity to welcome one and a half million Russian tourists next summer.

This was stated by Bulgarian Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova in an interview for private NOVA TV on Sunday.

Angelkova’s words were based on a statement of the executive chairman of the Ural Association of Tourism Mikhail Maltsev.

Maltsev made the forecast during a round table with the participation of Bulgarian authorities, representatives of the Russian tourism agency and leading tour operators.

So far this year 450 000 Russian tourists have visited Bulgaria, with the trend in the past five years being for 600-700 000 Russians to visit the country annually. 

According to Angelkova, the forthcoming winter season will be a very successful one, with the early bookings indicating that an increase of 5-7 % will be registered compared to last year.

Angelkova assured that Bulgarian resorts have readiness to welcome their guests.

In her words, the tourism sector is self-regulating itself and is abiding by the rules, which explains the decrease in violations last year.                                                                                           

The minister noted that preparations for the 2016 season are ongoing, with 35 % increase of flights to the airports in Varna and Burgas already negotiated. There has also been a 50 % increase of requests from Germany.

She explained that the focus is on direct negotiations with large foreign tour operators as the country could not rely solely on image campaigns.