Bulgaria is to spend about 300 million leva (about 150 million euro) in European Union funds over the next two years restoring 11 castles and a large number of ancient sites that are popular tourist attractions.
Among the sites where restoration and development work will be done are the museum village of Etura, former capital Pliska, the Madara Horseman cliff carving near the town of Shoumen, Arbanassi, the Assenovgrad fortress, Magura and Ledenika caves and the Belogradchik rocks.
...
An enormous new vacation complex is to be build on Bulgaria's Northern Black Sea coast, announced Atanas Stoilov, Mayor of the Municipality of Aksakovo near Varna.
Stoilov told reporters Tuesday, as cited by Darik Radio, that the new resort will be built between the village of General Kantardzhievo and the Albena resort complex on a plot of 300 decares.
In his words, the project first started several years ago when it was initiated by French investors. After one of the investor's...
Bulgaria expects an year-on-year growth of some 70% in the number of Russian tourists for the 2011 summer season, according to consular officials.
A total of 10% more foreign tourists are expected in Bulgaria in 2011 as a whole, Deputy Economy Minister in charge of tourism Ivo Marinov forecast in Ruse Friday, as cited by BNR.
In his words, most of the foreign tourists in Bulgaria will be from Russia, Germany, Central Europe, and other Balkan countries.
Marinov stressed the fact that...
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has completed his two-day Bulgarian visit in the southern city of Plovdiv where he was amazed at the history and architecture of the Old Town.
Ban was the guest of a formal lunch given by Plovdiv District Governor Ivan Totev in his honor on behalf of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
The UN head was fascinated with the cultural heritage of Plovdiv from Antiquity to modernity such as the amphitheater, the churches, and a number of the 19th century Bulgarian...
Irish low-cost company Ryanair plans to open flights from Spain to Plovdiv in Bulgaria in the autumn of this year at the latest.
"Even though the company recently dropped plans for a line from the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv to Barcelona, Spain, a service between the two countries will be launched as early as this year," Doychin Anguelov, executive director of Plovdiv Airport, told business news provider Investor.bg.
"Tickets for the flights were on sale since December 2010 and demand was...
The number of foreign tourists who visited Bulgaria in the first two months of 2011 grew by 6%, year-on-year, a senior official announced at the opening of the Cultural Tourism Expo in Veliko Tarnovo.
According to Ivo Marinov, Deputy Minister of Economy, who is in charge of tourism, in January-February, Bulgaria saw more tourists from Greece, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Macedonia, the UK and Russia. The visas issued to Russian tourists in January were 50% more than in the same month of last...
German Ambassador to Sofia, Matthias Hopfner, voiced Monday strong optimism about the number of his fellow countrymen visiting Bulgaria for vacation and leisure.
"I believe the number of German tourists to come to Bulgaria is going to go up this year because your infrastructure is developing and improving," Hopfner told the Varna Region Governor, Dancho Simeonov, and the Varna Mayor, Kiril Yordanov, during meetings with them in the Black Sea capital.
The Ambassador informed over half...
Bulgaria can expects hundreds of thousands more Russian tourists than it welcomed in 2010 as the unrest in top Mediterranean destinations such as Tunisia and Egypt will redirect their summer holidays.
This is the forecast of RATA News, the daily online paper of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry in an article entitled "Bulgaria Awaited Its Moment in the Sun".
The paper cites Bulgarian tour operators as saying that the Russian tourists should not expect much in terms of special offers...
Bulgaria's hunting tourism is enjoying growing local and international interest, according to participants in the 17th annual "Nature, Hunting, Fishing" Expo in the city of Plovdiv.
A total of 3 992 foreign nationals and 3 761 Bulgarians had hunting tourism trips in Bulgaria in 2010, according to data of the State Forestry Agency, as cited by BTA.
The group hunt of wild pigs is the most sought after hunting tourism attraction in Bulgaria, the data indicates.
The foreign nationals who...
The international airport in Bulgaria's Black Sea city of Varna will serve 19 regular routes in the summer season of 2011.
The summer schedule of Varna Airport enters into force as of March 27, 2011; the first foreign tourists for the nearby Black Sea resorts are expected to arrive on Monday, March 28.
The new destinations that Varna will have direct flights to Cologne, Germany; Katowice, Poland; Samara and Kazan, Russia. The destinations with the highest frequency of outbound Varna...
A total of 243 107 passengers have been registered at the Bulgarian Sofia Airport in February 2011, which is a 10 000 increase year on year.
This increase was due both to constant growth in passenger flow on international scheduled routes and a 25% increase to the number of passengers on domestic routes, the airport's official website states.
The number of flight movements at Bulgaria's largest airport in February was 3,467, a 2% increase in comparison to the same period in 2010.
The...
Large tour operators expect a substantial growth of bookings for vacations in Bulgaria by European tourists.
Representatives of TUI, ITS, and Neckermann have met with Bulgaria's Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism Traicho Traikov in Berlin, Germany, at the ITB Berlin travel expo, the Economy Ministry announced.
TUI predicts that there will be four times more Russian tourists in Bulgaria in 2011 than there were in 2010, while ITS expects a 28%-30% increase in the number of Germans...
The check for BGN 1 M is being presented to the Kardzhali City Hall Friday for the Thracian rock sanctuary Perperikon, which ranked second in the Bulgaria's Miracles contest.
The initiative belongs to the Bulgarian daily "Standart."
The funds will be used for the restoration of the Perperikon fortress wall and partial restoration of the 15-meter tall medieval tower.
Another site in the Kardzhali Region - the Thracian sanctuary Tatul is also receiving BGN 1 M.
The Thracian city of...
March 9 is to be declared the Day of Bulgaria's Miracles, it was announced during the award ceremony for the winners of the Bulgaria's Miracles contest.
The initiative belongs to the Bulgarian daily "Standart." The ceremony was held Wednesday evening at the National History Museum under the patronage of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov. The guests included politicians, intellectuals and journalists.
Each of the 10 awarded miracles received financing in the amount of BGN 1 M while the cabinet...
Bulgaria will be making between 15% and 20% of the total annual production of ski in the world thanks to the investment in a local factory by Finnish company Amer Sports.
On Monday, world ski producer, Finnish company Amer Sports, received a "Class A" investor status from the Bulgarian government for its project to expand the ski factory in Bulgarian mountain resort Chepelare.
Bulgarian Economy Minister Traicho Traikov presented Stefan Leberbauer, a senior executive of Amer Sports, with...
The Bulgarian Black Sea resort Albena is expecting a 20% increase of German tourists this summer, in comparison to last year.
Yovka Strashilova, Deputy Director in the Sales Department in the resort, said that last year the number of German tourists in Albena were 16% more than the previous year.
She has explained the increased interest with the advertising campaign, organized for the second consecutive year by Albena Jsc in cooperation with tour operators. In her opinion, the lower...
The number of overnight stays of Bulgarians in hotels and mountain cabins is down by 0.2% or 2 300 during the last quarter of 2010, compared to the last quarter of 2009.
The data was released Monday by the National Statistics Institute, NSI.
The number of stays of foreigners is, however, up by 22% or 5 100 during the same period. Greeks have the largest share with 21% of all foreign visitors' hotel accommodations. Almost all of the foreign visitors (over 99%) have chosen to stay in...
Bulgarian Minister on Economy, Energy and Tourism, Traicho Traikov, has stated the expected growth in tourism sector for the 2010/2011 winter season is 5-10%.
"Tourism is one of Bulgaria's economy sectors, which handled the recession the best," Traikov said Thursday at the opening of "Vacation & Spa Expo" in Sofia.
He said that the growth in the tourism sector in the country last year was 5%, while expectations for this year's winter season are for 5-10% increase.
In his words,...
Bulgaria will participate for the third time in World Travel Fair 2011, one of the biggest tourism exhibitions in Asia, which opens Friday in Shanghai.
The Bulgarian pavilion has been provided by the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism (MEET).
Minister Traycho Traykov has highlighted China as a high-priority country in which MEET actively presents tourist and investment opportunities.
The eleventh edition of the tourism exhibition will bring together more than 500 participants from...
The Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism has launched an online calendar listing interesting tourists sites and events.
The calendar has a web address - www.potarsi.bulgariatravel.org.
The site will be updated consistently and will collect information about travel, city and town celebrations, festivals, and others.
Users, organizations and institutions are invited to contribute to the site's content by sending information to office@reforma.bg, the Ministry...
The ruling majority in Bulgaria's Parliament has voted down a proposal for a several-month delay in the introduction of a flat 9% value-added tax (VAT) in the tourism sector.
Bulgaria will introduce a flat 9% value-added tax (VAT) in the tourism sector as of the beginning of April this year under amendments that Parliament adopted conclusively on Wednesday.
The right-wing Blue Coalition had insisted that the flat rate be introduced as of October after the summer season, saying that in...
Almost 9 million tourists were registered in Bulgaria in 2010, according to data of the National Tourism Board, an association of the tourism industry, which had a conference in Sofia Wednesday.
The National Tourism Board conference was attended by Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, who promised government support for key tourist infrastructure projects.
The tourism industry data presented at the conference says that Bulgaria saw a 5% increase in bed occupancy in 2010 year on year, with the...
Bulgaria Translation