Bulgaria and Romania began competing in the tourism sphere, French newspaper Le Petit Journal said.

This was just the start of a long competition between the two countries for higher number of foreign tourists, Le Petit Journal said.

At present Romanian tourism suffered losses from the recent floods in the coastal region and the competition with Bulgarian tour operators. Now Romania planned to re-gain it position on the world market by developing rural tourism.

Bulgaria's inclusion in the Romanian foreign ministry's list of countries with increased risk for tourists could be viewed as the result of the increased competition, Le Petit Journal said. The inclusion coincided with the peak of Romanian tourists planning to spend their holidays on Bulgaria's seaside, the newspaper said.

Recently the website of the Romanian foreign ministry posted a list with destinations that posed some threat to the personal security of travellers. Bulgaria was placed in the same category as Iran.