Bulgaria is actively working to strengthen its position as a preferred destination among Russian tourists, Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova told Focus Radio from Moscow.
She said Bulgaria is welcomed warmly on the Russian market and receives wide support. A key factor in its positioning as a highly preferred tourist destination among Russian citizens is the economic dimension, Minister Angelkova said, explaining that the observed slight decrease in the early registrations of Russian tourists in Bulgaria is due to the charter incentive programmes offered by non-EU countries. “The most important thing at the moment is to keep Russian tourists interested in Bulgaria as a destination for their summer holiday, but also to offer additional tourism products such as cultural tourism and balneology and spa tourism. We also want to focus on children recreation to restore the usual strong interest in children's camps in Bulgaria. 
The competition in the tourism sector makes us extremely active, implementing various initiatives, with the different regions in Russia, as well as with communication campaigns with various advertising tools, like the one we are currently implementing,” Bulgaria’s minister of tourism explained.
The position of Bulgaria as an important tourist destination will be strengthen at a number of upcoming forums such as the bilateral forum during the 35th exhibition "Vacation and SPA Expo" from 14 to 18 February, and the Bulgarian-Russian forum during the exhibition of cultural and historical tourism in Veliko Tarnovo, the minister said. At the beginning of April, the general meeting of Russian tour operators will take place in Bulgaria, Nikolina Angelkova announced.