About 70 000 Bulgarians Chose Holiday Cruises for their Vacation

More and more Bulgarians choose cruises for holiday. Such is the trend in the world. Last year, just under 28 million people were cruising around the world, up 5.5 per cent a year earlier. This year, nearly 30 million people are expected to opt for cruises. Of these, about 12 000 will be Bulgarians. This shows the data of the Bulgarian office of Usit Colors, which offer cruises.

Their research shows that over the last ten years, about 70,000 Bulgarians have opted for cruises and the number of new registrations has been steadily growing. Last year, about 11,000 Bulgarians were on a cruise, an increase of 9% compared to 2017.

No cruise ships at seaports in recent years

Despite the global growth, Bulgarian sea ports have been avoided by big companies in the industry. No major cruise ship has been moored in recent years, and the cause is insecurity in the Black Sea.

After the peak in 2014, when 27 cruise ships visited the port of Burgas, their number has steadily decreased, reaching zero in the past year. This year also there are no requests, said from the port in Burgas.

The only exception is the visit of the Le Bougainville mega-yacht to the ultra-luxury cruise company Ponant, which this year will twice trip to Nessebar. Once, as part of a ten-day cruise from the Greek Islands to the Black Sea and a second time as part of a ten-day route along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, Usit Colors Bulgaria said.

The reason for the large tourist ships to avoid the Bulgarian ports is the uncertain international environment in the Black Sea. The tendency to reduce interest began after the annexation of the Crimea from Russia and the tensions between Moscow and Kiev, as well as the attempted coup d'état in Turkey in the summer of 2016,...