We expect 4.7 million tourists in the summer

13.03.2023

"About 4.7 million tourists are expected during the summer season," said Ilin Dimitrov, Acting Minister of Tourism, in "The Day Begins".

According to him, there is a problem with the planes, as the crews are not enough.

"The German market is important, the Germans come in the wings of the season and stay the longest. For the German market there is a growth of 20 to 30 percent, but these are below 2019 levels, but we will be able to catch up this summer, we expect to be between 5 and 7% over 2019. Tourism is returning," added Ilin Dimitrov.

We will advertise cultural tourism, unfortunately we do not have a sufficient budget, explained the minister of tourism and denied that there is a negative campaign in Bulgaria.

Five-star spa hotels register over 75% occupancy on an annual basis, which is a very serious achievement, there is an 18% growth in spa tourism compared to last year, added the Minister of Tourism.

Ilin Dimitrov commented on the offers for the Easter holidays - according to him, they start from 80 BGN, the lowest price per day, and reach up to 500, depending on where the hotel is located. Our advertising is very strong in Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic, said Dimitrov.

"The winter season was difficult but successful, there was no snow in all of Europe. The tracks were translated in good shape, the starts for the World Cup took place. 70 percent of the tourists are Bulgarian during the winter season"

According to him, there are 1.4 million tourist registrations for winter resorts, which is 28% more than last year and 5% more than 2019.

Dimitrov warned of a shortage of personnel in tourism. Tours of schools where tourism is studied begin. Importing personnel into the sector is also an option. We currently train more chefs than IT professionals. The reality formats for chefs have inspired students to develop in this field, it became clear from the words of the Minister of Tourism.