News

A record number of 62 thousand tourists have visited the palace that once belonged to the Romanian queen Maria in the town of Balchik (Bulgaria's northern Black Sea coast) since the beginning of the summer. Tourists throng from Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, Russia, groups are expected to come from Switzerland.

Three 4-star hotels were inaugurated in the past month in Velingrad, the Bulgarian spa resort town located 130 km from Sofia in the Western Rhodope mountains. The local municipality has granted 150 building permits in the past 2 months, including 6 for the construction of new hotels. The resort will have one 5-star and 12 4-star hotels next year. Tourist visits are expected to double from the 78,000 bookings made in '04.

Austrian Airlines is increasing its regular services from the Black Sea town of Varna to Vienna and back due to brisk demand.

As of August 2 the flights from Varna to Vienna and back will be performed on a daily basis and will be shared with Bulgaria Air.

National flag carrier Bulgaria Air announced in April the launch of regular services from Varna to Amsterdam, Vienna and Frankfurt in late May and early June.

Investments in hotels and restaurants that suit all tastes run at 10 million euro

In recent years the once forlorn fishermen's village of Sveti Vlas has turned into a real Black Sea Riviera. It boasts hundreds of hotels, swimming pools and even a yacht marina.

Tourists revel in massage, picnics and fishing

If you want to combine a healthy balneology vacation and sunbathing, you need not hesitate - set off for Velingrad.

The majority of holidaymakers that visit Bulgaria are Greek people, Romanian newspaper Curierul National wrote.

According to the article, almost 300,000 Greeks have already visited the country this year.

International holidaymakers have brought a EUR 284 M profit over January-April, the story, cited by the state Bulgarian News Agency, said.

That marks an increase of 8% as compared to the same period last year.

The number of foreign tourists in Bulgaria has increased by almost 50 per cent in the past four years, and holiday makers only from European Union countries have risen by 90 per cent. This was announced yesterday by Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, who launched the two-day 75th session of the executive committee of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) in the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Slunchv Bryag (Sunny Beach). The forum continues today.
Culture and Tourism Minister Nina Chilova, who heads the Bulgarian delegation to the forum, pointed out the dynamic development of seaside and skiing tourism in Bulgaria, which gave the European Commission grounds to describe Bulgaria as the new face on the global tourist market. Chilova cited WTO forecasts according to which in 2020 Bulgaria will be visited by 10 million tourists. This makes it one of the most promising tourist destinations.

Bulgaria is expecting a notable increase in the number of UK vacationers this summer.

For the fourth year the Bulgarian winter resort of Bansko gathered fans of extreme skiing and snowboarding from all across country, Europe and the United States.

The contest took place at the north fringe of Todorka peak (2,748 m) in the mountain of Pirin.

The event triggered extreme interest among many international media representatives. Prestigious US magazines in this field like Powder Magazine, Skiing Magazine published articles about Bansko and Bulgaria, after their representatives attended the event.

According to the organizers, the event aims to make popular the resort of Bansko among the extreme skiers and snowboardists from all over the world.