Nikolina Angelkova

Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova announced on Thursday that the interest of Russian tourists towards the Bulgarian Black Sea coast has increased in the past days.

According to Angelkova, there has been a 40 % growth in the number of Russians, who have signed up for a summer holiday in Bulgaria, Darik radio reports.

Bulgaria's Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova boasted about a successful 2014/2015 winter season (December-February), stressing that the period had brought growth of over 9%, with the number of tourists increasing by nearly 80 000.

In an interview for Trud daily, Angelkova made clear that tourism revenues had increased by BGN 34 M during the past winter season.

Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov announced on Saturday that Sofia would take measures to eases access to Bulgaria for Russian tourists.

In his words, the move could allow "all Russian tourists who want to come to Bulgaria to do it."

The outgoing 2015 winter season brought an increase by 9.2% in the number of tourists in Bulgarian winter resorts, according to Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova.

Bulgaria and China have decided to sign an agreement aimed at increasing the flow of Chinese tourists to the southeast European country, the Tourism Ministry in Sofia said on Monday.

Restaurant and hotel owners held a procession in the city of Burgas on Sunday, calling on the government to ease visa regulations for Russian tourists to help Bulgaria's tourism sector cope with a recent decline in the number of Russian visitors.

Bulgaria's Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova has suggested that a tough summer season lies ahead.

In a Monday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, Angelkova suggested that industry representatives had to join efforts to use EU funds to boost the quality of the product.

Bulgaria has launched a large-scale promotion of its resorts and tourist sites via four pan-European TV channels as part of steps to make up for a drop in the number of visitors from Russia and Ukraine.

Speaking at the ITB Berlin (Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin), Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova noted that nearly 1 million Germans had visited Bulgaria in 2014, with over 700 000 of them traveling to the country for tourism.

Forecasts of Bulgaria's Tourism Ministry for the 2015 summer season point to a 3-4% growth in tourist numbers, according to Minister Nikolina Angelkova.