site.btaTourism Minister: Attack on Bulgarian Tourism Business Quite Intense in 2023

The attack on the Bulgarian tourism business this year was quite intense, Tourism Minister Zaritsa Dinkova said on BNT’s morning show on Wednesday. “The international situation is very complex, and Bulgaria is part of it," she said. 

Commenting on the impact of the blowing up of the Nova Kakhovka dam wall in June, Dinkova said that recent seawater tests show that the water was cleaner than it was in previous years. As proof of this statement, she pointed out that 22 Bulgarian beaches have a Blue Flag.

Dinkova said that she had convened a working group with representatives from the Tourism Ministry, the Environment and Water Ministry, and the Regional Development and Public Works Ministry. It met on Tuesday and made commitments that it will conduct research into how the authorities can ensure the cleanliness of the water on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, how they can create a safer infrastructure and how they can be aware of whether it will withstand pressure and potential natural disasters while it is still under construction. “There is no tourism without infrastructure and security, including sanitary ones. All this poses a threat to the sector,” she added. 

As to the areas on the Southern Black Sea coast affected by the floods last week, Dinkova said that the government has set up committees that look into the situation with the disaster victims in order to grant the BGN 30 million relief allocated from the Disasters and Accidents Fund.