Minister Vigenin: There is no reason to believe that there will be an outflow of Russian tourists from Bulgaria
24 April 2014 News
There is no reason to believe that during the forthcoming summer season there will be an outflow of Russian tourists from Bulgaria. We consider that our country may also attract more Ukrainian tourists, said Minister Kristian Vigenin in Burgas, where he met with representatives of the tourism industry. He assured that the Ministry has done its best in order to increase the tourist flow.
During the meeting, Minister Vigenin informed the representatives of the industry on the recently introduced measures to facilitate the issue of tourist visas, initiated by the Ministry. Our consular offices are instructed to ease and speed up the process of issuing visas for tourists from the Russian Federation, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as the Republic of Turkey, he said. The practice of sending tourists to the Visa Application Centers has been resumed, which so far has been raising the cost and slowing down the process.
Minister Vigenin also pointed out that the foreign nationals who have already visited the country as tourists and legitimately used previous visas can return to Bulgaria much easier. Something that directly affects the city of Burgas is that Russian citizens who own properties here will have the right of multiple visits with their families. Specific mechanism to encourage the new visa applicants to apply for long term visas in order to come back during the next summer and winter tourist seasons has also been introduced, added Kristian Vigenin.
As regards the number of visas issued in 2014, there has been a decline in the first two months compared to 2013, but now an increase is being observed. "Curently we are analyzing the data received from Ukraine. The economic situation in the country deteriorates, but we hope that the outflow of tourists from Crimea will bring them to Bulgaria," he said. "Together with the Ministry of Economy and Energy we are actively working on the promotion of Bulgarian tourism and I am rather optimistic," the Foreign Minister said.
In the meeting participated also Grigor Porozhanov, Director of Foreign Economic Relations Directorate at the MFA, Rakovski Lashev, Director of Consular Relations Directorate, and the Burgas regional governor, Pavel Marinov.