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At a recent press conference in Yekaterinburg, Mikhail Maltsev, executive director of the Urals Tourism Association, said that the number of tourists travelling from the Urals to Bulgaria this summer could double to 16,000.
Although the number of departures from Yekaterinburg to Bulgaria, as well as to Italy and Spain, fell sharply last year, Mr Maltsev is confident that the situation will change this summer season.
Bulgaria’s consul in Yekaterinburg, Plamen Petkov, agrees with Mr Maltsev’s forecast and also confirmed that Bulgaria expects at least twice as many tourists from the Urals this summer. He said this would be supported by the reopening of the Bulgarian consulate in Yekaterinburg, a doubling of flights to Burgas, simpler procedures for Russian citizens applying for Bulgarian visas and the closure of Turkish and Egyptian resorts to this market.
Market participants are less optimistic, as in recent years visitors to Bulgaria have generally been owners of resort properties rather than tourists. As the saying goes, time will tell.
