BULGARIA AS A PARTNER AT THE INTERNATIONAL TOURISM EXHIBITION IN EKATERINBURG
Bulgaria was a partner country at the most important specialised exhibition in the sector in the Ural Federal District of the Russian Federation, ‘Leto 2016’, which was held in the city of Ekaterinburg.
The Bulgarian information stand, organised by the Ministry of Tourism, was located on 24 sq. m in the most central part of the Ekaterinburg-Expo International Exhibition Centre. The participants were two tourist companies and the municipality of Velingrad, which presented Bulgaria’s potential for specialised balneo-therapeutic, spa and wellness services to the main tourism packages.
The tour operators’ and end users’ attention to offers for travel and holidays in Bulgaria was mostly oriented to summer and sea, health and cultural and historical tourism. According to the tour operators in the region, working actively with our market, a 30-35% growth in the demand for holidays in Bulgaria has been reported and these preferences have already found expression in the increased bookings. The Fraport Representation in Bulgaria confirmed that charter flights from Ekaterinburg to the Bulgarian seaside airports are up 30% over last year, which is yet another indicator of the growing number of tourists.
Participants in the exhibition emphasised that the increased demand was a result of the active contacts between the Ministry of Tourism of Bulgaria and the Federal Agency for Tourism of Russia and the Ural Tourism Association, as well as the measures for increasing the number of Russian tourists in Bulgaria, taken by both sides. The renewed activity of the Bulgarian Consulate General in Ekaterinburg, which was officially opened on 7th April 2016, but started offering services as early as February this year, has contributed seriously along this line.