As of June 1, experts from the Ministry of Tourism will start independent checks of hotels and restaurants on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. This was announced in Varna today by Minister Nikolina Angelkova, where she had a working meeting with the control authorities for the preparations for the beginning of the season.

Last summer, the Ministry of Tourism remained in the shadow of Deputy Prime Minister Valeri Simeonov, who, together with tax inspectors, closed down bars with violations.

With recent amendments to the Tourism Act adopted last week, however, the Ministry of Tourism now has the right to control tourist sites. The strengthened control functions of the tourist office provide for a control unit to inspect persons providing tourist services and their sites. They will be able to draft protocols, send them to the CPC for ex-post control and sanctions.

The change was due to the numerous reports of violations addressed to the Ministry of Tourism. Until now, only the CPC, at the request of the Ministry of Tourism, could take away the category of accommodation, which put the ministry in a "tied hands" situation.