We expect a very good growth for tourists in the summer of 2018, which we can not achieve without the active business partnership. This was announced by Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelova at the opening of the new season in Sunny Beach. She predicts a 5% increase in foreign summer visits compared to a record 2017 and predicts growth in markets such as Germany, Israel, Poland, the Czech Republic, France, even in the US, where the Bulgaria used digital advertising campaign for the first time last year.

The Minister pointed out that summer holidays on the Black Sea coast are among the most preferred by tourists in Bulgaria. This makes sea tourism a key and key product for the sustainable development of the entire sector. Over 70 per cent of tourists come to Bulgaria for a summer vacation, she underlined, recalling that in the period June-September 2017, foreign tourist visits were more than 5.3 million. We expect the Bulgarians traveling during this period to increase to 1.9 million compared to 1.6 million a year earlier.

Minister Angelkova congratulated the local authorities and the management of Sunny Beach for their efforts to develop our largest resort complex as more hospitable and attractive. More visitors are also expected here during the season. One indicator is the increased number of flights to Bourgas Airport. The current data is for the growth of 18% of the aircraft, more are the requested flights from Germany, Poland, Great Britain, Czech Republic and Israel. Over the past summer, the overnight stays in the resorts were over 756 thousand, and overnight stays of more than 5 million. Nearly 6% is the increase in the overnight stays, reaching almost 270 million leva.

Minister Angelkova wished the business a successful work and pledged assistance to solve all issues related to the quality of services and high-level service. We sell high quality at a reasonable price and we are becoming an increasingly desirable summer destination despite the enormous competition in the region, she concluded.

In the last days, Sunny Beach was a conflict point between Angelkova and Deputy Prime Minister Valeriy Simeonov, who wants to destroy the illegal sites in the complex, among which he thinks that there are famous places such as Cacao Beach, Bedroom and others. Simeonov wants to introduce order for the noise, but Angelkova tells him that we can not turn the Black Sea into a sanatorium.