Bulgaria's capital Sofia and other important landmarks already gained popularity among tourists from Western Europe and the Balkan countries. According to data of Eurostat, the number of European citizens visiting Bulgaria has seen a two-fold increase in the past 15 years. That positive trend was not only due to the rapid increase in the number of hotels and restaurants in Bulgaria. It rather represents the progress of modern technologies worldwide which allow people to make an easy online booking in less than 100 seconds. We should mention the fact that online holiday bookings are the second biggest segment in E-commerce, which is outrun by online clothes sales only. Against the backdrop of the constantly evolving tourism market Bulgaria faces the challenge to find smarter ways to attract new tourists in all seasons. European tourists prefer short-term travels and travels at short distance. The development of the 2017 Tourism Strategy of Bulgaria's Ministry of Tourism is based on data of a research, according to which in 2016 many European tourists preferred to go on short vacations, to travel a short distance to their holiday destinations and get the best price offer. Three out of four European tourists chose to visit a European country. Bulgaria benefited from that trend, because the European countries attracted highest number of visitors worldwide, Bulgaria's caretaker Minister of Tourism Stela Baltova said within the frameworks of a discussion on the benefits of the short trips and added:

“50% of all foreign tourists visiting Bulgaria are European citizens. That is why Bulgaria must do its best to meet the new demands of the tourists and offer them smart tourist packages such as short, yet memorable holidays at reasonable prices. The visitors save money and time due to the fast and accurate online bookings. In 2014 holidays which lasted between one and three days accounted for 58% of all travels made by EU citizens. Those were nearly 700,000 short-term visits. Since 2005 the number of travels lasting between 4 and 7 days saw a two-fold decrease. On the opposite, the number of short trips made in Bulgaria increased rapidly. Foreign tourists often use low-cost airlines and make quick online bookings.”

Tourism experts admit that people who live not far from Bulgaria arrive in this country on short visits. People spend an average of 2 to 3 hours to travel to Bulgaria on the weekends and the distance ranges between 200 and 300 kilometers. Local travels are also the key to success. More from caretaker Tourism Minister Baltova:

“Bulgaria should aim at attracting tourists from its traditional tourist markets such as Romania, Serbia, Greece, Macedonia and Turkey which form over 30% of the tourist flow. We have the potential to attract more guests from Albania, Slovakia, Hungary and Italy, if we make thematic trips more interesting, organize student's trips and promote our SPA and cultural tourism. Nearly 84% of the Bulgarian citizens make trips in Bulgaria and the average duration of their trips is twice shorter as compared to those of the foreign citizens visiting Bulgaria. However, the local tourists make over one-third of all tourist bookings, which proves that the Bulgarian citizens boosted the development of the country's tourism industry”, Minister Baltova went on to say.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov