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Giza, Egypt, Photo: Pixabay
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Tour operators report a significant increase in Bulgarian tourists abroad during the Christmas and New Year holidays compared to last year. More than 5,000 people are on charter and plane programs abroad, and there are even more on bus trips, said Pavlina Ilieva, chairwoman of the Association of Tour Operators and Travel Agents “Future for Tourism” (OBT) for the specialized site “Travel News”.
There are over 20 charters from Sofia and Varna abroad, most of them to Egypt and Turkey, Ilieva said. Other destinations with direct flights are Jordan, Tunisia, Albania, the Maldives, the Dominican Republic, Sri Lanka, Zanzibar and Lapland. On regular flights, most Bulgarians will be in Dubai (UAE), Thailand, Mexico, Rome (Italy) and Prague (Czech Republic).
“This year the situation is better than in 2020, when our activity was banned,” she said. However, travel is far less before the pandemic in 2019. Unfortunately, Europe remains closed for Christmas and New Year for the second year with many restrictions and bans on the unvaccinated, Ilieva explained. Almost all countries now want a PCR test for vaccinated tourists.
Egypt and Dubai are most interested in the Christmas and New Year holidays, said Nevena Nikolova, manager of Dream Holidays. Jordan and the Maldives follow. Interest in Thailand is returning, despite high requirements and complicated visas. There are already a lot of people for the destination, where we managed to get visas and they will travel there, Nikolova stressed. Thailand was the most visited distant country in 2019, when it was visited by over 46,000 Bulgarians. For January and February 2022, there is a boom in recordings for exotic and distant countries, said Nevena Nikolova.
Tour operator Abax has the most charters during the holidays to 10 destinations, said Georgi Pasev, marketing manager of the company. 5 of them are to Cairo and Hurghada with flights from Sofia and one from Varna, Sharm El Sheikh, Jordan, Antalya (Turkey), Albania, Tunisia. They alone have over 900 Bulgarians under the programs for Egypt. We have separate groups on regular routes to Prague, Dubai, the Maldives and the Costa del Sol in Spain, Pasev explained. According to him, this year is much better than in 2020, when they had only 3 charters. “But again, travel to Europe is lacking due to many restrictions,” he said. Destinations such as Rome, Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Barcelona and others have been dropped. More and more people are refusing to travel because of the requirement for a PCR test of return and return, even for those vaccinated. For a family of four, the measure increases the cost of the holiday by more than BGN 400, said Georgi Pasev.
We are most looking for exotic destinations such as the Maldives, the Dominican Republic and Mexico, said Rumyana Yuksel, manager of Aqua Tour. According to her, they are beginning to restore tourism and fame. In the Maldives and Mexico, it is difficult to find places in hotels for the holidays. The prices of the Maldives this year are not low and are starting to return to the old high values, Yuksel stressed. She added that there is also great interest in Antalya and the New Year’s charter is already full.
The same trend was outlined by Onex Tour. Velizar Dimitrov, the tour operator’s marketing manager, said the Dominican Republic, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Turkey have the most tourists. In total, they will take over 1000 Bulgarians abroad on their charter and flight programs.
According to the bus programs of the tour operators abroad, most tourists will be in Turkey, Serbia, Northern Macedonia and less in Greece.
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