Nearly three to four thousand Portuguese tourists are expected to visit Bulgaria in 2007 as the country becomes increasingly attractive for them.

Tour operators who develop the Portuguese tourism market said, as quoted by Dnevnik daily, that some of the Portuguese tourists tour round Bulgaria, others prefer to take a holiday at the Black Sea.

According to data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI) nearly 2 500 tourists from Portugal have visited the country in the first half of 2007. This is an increase of more than 40 per cent compared to 2006.

The biggest Bulgarian tour operators that organize trips for Portuguese tourists said that they expected the number of tourists from this country to go up in the future.

In contrast to increased number of organized tours for Portuguese tourists to Bulgaria, organized trips for Bulgarian tourists to Portugal are still less popular, tour operators’ representatives said.