Bulgaria Expects 6 Million Foreign Tourists in 2010

Sofia News Agency

A total of 8-8.5 million tourists will make their vacations in Bulgaria in 2010, and some 6 million are expected to come from abroad.

This means that there will be a 5% increase in the number of foreign tourists year-on-year, according to a forecast of the Institute for Analysis and Estimates in Tourism.

More tourists from Germany, Russia, Central Europe, Romania, Serbia, and Macedonia are expected to visit the Bulgarian Black Sea resorts in the summer of 2010 compared to last summer.

According to data of the Institute, Bulgarian tourists spent BGN 575 per capita on vacations in the summer of 2009, and are expected to spend at least as much this summer.

The prices of tourism packages are forecast to be about 20%-25% lower in Bulgarian Black Sea resorts.

According to Stoyan Marinov from the Varna Tourist Chamber, the hopes that Bulgarian Black Sea resorts might benefit somehow by the fact that some foreign tourists might be turned away from Greece as a result of the strikes there are totally unfounded as the clients traditionally going to Greece and to Bulgaria are different in terms of their demands.

Marinov said Bulgarian tour operators and resorts have to try to compete with their Turkish counterparts who offer very good service at very competitive prices.