Minister Baltova held a working meeting with leading Polish tour operators before the start of the winter season

The Minister of Tourism Stela Baltova held a working meeting with leading Polish tour operators. The talks were attended by Deputy Ministers of Tourism Irena Georgieva and Maria Belkoleva.

Minister Baltova stated that tourism has been raised as a priority by the Caretaker Government and is constantly working for its development, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. According to her, Poland is among the top 10 countries for inbound tourism in Bulgaria. She cites data according to which in 2019 about 421 thousand Polish tourists visited Bulgaria.

After the overall decline in 2020 due to the pandemic, Poland was one of the surprises last summer, after ranking in the top 3 in foreign markets and recorded a growth of 96% of Polish tourists in Bulgaria compared to summer 2020.

At the same time, for the summer season 2021 our country was third in sales on the Polish market for organized trips through tour operator services.

“Even in October we have flights from Poland. You know that Bulgaria is a well-known destination for Polish citizens and we would like to invite them to our ski resorts, as well as spa and wellness destinations,” the Minister told the leading tour operators on the Polish market. According to her, the citizens of the Central European country can become acquainted with our centuries-old history, rich culture or enjoy a spa and balneal vacation, as our country has more than 600 mineral springs.

Minister Baltova assured the representatives of the Polish companies that the Ministry of Tourism maintains constant contact with the health authorities and monitors the development of the pandemic. She assured that Bulgaria is taking all necessary anti-epidemic measures in order to provide optimal support for the sector, as well as to ensure maximum safety for the guests in the conditions of the ongoing pandemic.

Deputy Minister Georgieva acquainted the Polish tour operators with the current conditions that came into force with the introduction of the green certificate and explained that within days the so-called Health protocol for work in tourist sites.

The Polish representatives announced that they currently offer various tourist packages – ski vacations, spa vacations, as well as many other different opportunities for tourism. They also shared that this year the summer season was long, lasting until mid-October, and the registrations for the upcoming winter season are going very well. Tour operators expressed optimism and confidence that next year’s season will be even more successful than summer 2021.

Another important topic of the meeting was the ways to enter the country – according to them, it is extremely important that the rules are not changed so that there is predictability and registrations are not interrupted, as well as the outflow of tourists.