A study measuring the tourism impact on the environment is being done in the area of the Rila Monastery in Bulgaria’s Rila Mountain.
A total of 268 000 tourists and 52 150 vehicles visited the region between January and June 2007, according to Rila National Park management statistics.

Park director Vangel Avramov said that Rila administration was keeping count of the visits as part of the monitoring project. The aim is to find out how the flood of people and vehicles is influencing flora and fauna in the area and to establish the level of harmful emissions. The monitoring will continue until the end of 2007, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported on September 18.

During the winter months, there are relatively few visits in comparison to the warmer seasons. The second quarter of 2007 saw a substantial increase in the number of foreign tourists and student groups in this part of Rila.

Avramov said that the study would contribute to deciding how to preserve “the gorgeous nature around one of the most valued monuments of Bulgaria’s spirituality”.

As to the other side of the country, Bulgarian daily Dnevnik reported that Bulgaria was regaining its strong position on the German tourism market, after seeing a constant decrease in the number of German tourists visiting the Bulgarian Black Sea area past two years.

But during summer 2007, the number of German tourists slowly started to grow.

Representatives of major tour operators bringing German tourists here noted the trend and, according to an official statement of their figures, they expect that this year the number of reservations will reach 350 000 to 400 000, which would be a slight increase in comparison to 2006.

The tour operators said that the German market had begun to stabilise after earlier difficulties. ITS representative Kalin Sutev said that each year ITS brings about 150 000 German tourists to Bulgaria’s summer resorts. The company expects to finish this year with the same results as 2006 or with a small increase.

TUI, another major tour operator, expects similar results. TUI representative for Bulgaria Valentin Yosifov said that in 2007 the number of reservations would be about 10 per cent higher than in 2006. The German tourist market is growing steadily throughout the whole Black Sea coast unlike the British tourist market, which showed negative trends in 2007 for destinations near Varna, the largest city on the Black Sea.

However, tour operators said that the number of German tourists would hardly reach the levels of four seasons ago, when that market reached its peak. At the time, Bulgaria welcomed about 500 000 German tourists in summer. The number of tourists in coming years will still be about 20 per cent less than the best summer seasons.

Foreign tourist arrivals since the beginning of 2007 have grown by nearly five per cent year-on-year, the State Agency for Tourism said. Revenue from foreign tourists rose by about 16 per cent for the period January to July 2007.

At the same time, about 15 per cent of Bulgarians have spent their holidays abroad since the beginning of 2007. The most visited summer destinations are Greece and Turkey, and Austria is emerging as a skiing destination.

According to official statistical data, the trips of Bulgarians abroad increased by seven per cent year-on-year for January to July 2007.

The visits to European Union member states rose by more than 11 per cent for the first seven months of 2007. The statistics takes into account only the number of trips and not that of individual tourists.

In 2006 the trips abroad fell by one per cent year-on-year, while the tourist trips were almost 15 per cent down compared to 2005.