The head of the Bulgarian Agency for tourism, Anelia Kroushkova, said during a meeting with tourism representatives on May 30 that there has been a decrease in the number of tourists visiting Europe. She said in the next 15 years the number of tourists is expected to decrease by a further 24 per cent. The decrease is due to more people choosing to visit Asian countries, who are seeing an increase in tourist numbers, she said.

The predictions are based on the facts that came out of two recent international tourism meetings Kroushkova went to – the summit of European tourism ministers, and the meeting between international tourism organisations in Lisbon.

Kroushkova said that Bulgaria has to follow the existing world tourism trends so that it is able to develop as an active tourist destination. She emphasised that in some Asian countries money from petrol is currently being invested in tourism and in the next five years 90 per cent of airlines are expected to be Arabic. Kroushkova advised Bulgarian tourist organisation to take notice of those predictions and re-direct their attention towards Arab airlines.

Kroushkova also said that soon Europe would introduce a common standard for hotel quality which will require Bulgarian hotels to work hard in order to keep their current ratings.

During the meeting, Kroushkova also suggested that from September the Bulgarian tourism product be split into regions at international tourism expos. She suggested 19 potential regions, which are to be discussed with the National Municipalities Union. The idea is to stimulate competition, which will improve the tourist product in Bulgaria and create a tourism trademark.

Another suggestion made by Krouskova was for Bulgarian tourist agencies participating at international tourism expos to remain at their stands throughout the entire duration of the fair. The reason for this, she said, is because during the tourism expo in Berlin in March, a German woman complained that she paid 13 euro to enter, but could not talk to anyone at the Bulgarian stand because there were just two people serving everyone.