Bulgarian Touroperators Worried By Drop in Russian, Ukrainian Market

The Bulgarian touroperators are concerned by the possible drop of number of Ukrainian and Russian tourists this summer. 

According to Bulgarian-language Capital Daily, another reason, besides the tensions between the two countries, is the depreciation of the Ukrainian hryvnia and the Russian ruble to the Euro – with 46 and 20%, respectively. 

According to the newspaper, none of the touroperators gave official data how much the numbers have dropped, but the average is about 10-12%. The numbers, considering that the Russians are the most numerous tourists in Bulgaria and Ukraine is in the top 6, are considerable. 

“The Russian market is on hold,” said Valentin Yosifov of TUI for the daily. “People are stressed by the depreciation of the ruble.”

Meanwhile, the bTV channel reported, that in spite the unusually mild and snowless winter, the ski season in Bulgaria was fairly good and posted a 2% increase of tourist numbers. 

The sector was expecting much higher figures – between 30 and 40% growth. 

The results, however, are different. The winter resorts were visited by 1 250 000 tourists. Those from Turkey posted an 8% increase, while those from Serbia and Macedonia dropped by 10%. The number of Russians remained the same.