Minister Discusses Winter Tourism in Bulgaria with Czech Representatives

18 November 2021

Tourism Minister Stela Baltova had a working meeting with representatives of the Czech Tour perators  Association led by its CEO Michal Weber. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Tourism Minister Irena Georgieva.

Minister Baltova said Czechia is among the leading inbound tourism markets for Bulgaria. Some 34,000 holiday-makers from the Central European country visited Bulgaria in the summer of 2020,  and 88,000 came in the summer of 2021, she said.

The Minister noted that her country boasts the best winter resorts in the Balkans, and encouraged Czech tourists to come and see for themselves. She added that Bulgaria also offers other types of tourism such as cultural, historical, SPA, wellness, wine and food tourism. She singled out the
possibilities for health tourism, including balneotherapy, climate therapy and post-COVID recovery, golf and other tourist packages. Baltova underlined the possibility to combine a ski holiday with SPA, cultural and historical tourism.

The minister assured the Czech tour operators that Bulgaria is taking all necessary precautions against COVID. She stressed that local COVID vaccination levels are going up.

The guests raised questions about advertising Bulgaria on the Czech market, free movement and tourist site accessibility. They  asked for more information from the Tourism Ministry about
summer 2022. The sides discussed Bulgarian marketing initiatives  for the Czech market and measures to support the tourist business, including emergency legislation.

Emergency legislation may target the reinstatement of an aid scheme under which tour operators received 35 euro for every occupied seat on charter flights to Bulgaria. The scheme was
terminated on September 16 after Bulgaria revised its state budget for 2021. As the scheme was redesigned, it requires a new  procedure for notification to the European Commission.

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