site.btaTourism Expected to Contribute 8.4% of Bulgaria’s GDP in 2025, Says Deputy Tourism Minister

According to a forecast by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the contribution of the tourism sector to Bulgaria’s GDP is expected to reach 8.4% in 2025, said Deputy Tourism Minister Irena Georgieva. She made the statement during a presentation of the Ministry’s program budget report for the first half of 2025 before the parliamentary tourism committee.

“We sincerely hope to achieve this increase from the previously recorded share in the GDP, which was just under 7%,” Georgieva noted.

She added that the main goal of the program budget is to ensure sustainable development of the sector and to increase its relative share in the country’s economy.

According to current data from the National Statistical Institute for the period January–June 2025, cited by Georgieva, the number of Bulgarian tourists staying in accommodations with 10 or more beds increased by 2.9% compared with the same period in 2024. Inbound tourism also performed better than in the January–June period of 2024, with the number of foreign tourist visits (excluding transit travel) rising by 3.6% year-on-year.

The Deputy Minister noted that for the first half of the year, the 2.9% increase in Bulgarian tourists and the 3.6% increase in foreign visitors compared to the same period in 2024 exceed initial projections for an annual growth of 1% for domestic tourists and 2% for international tourist visits.

“This provides grounds to believe that the projections could be surpassed on an annual basis,” stated Deputy Minister Irena Georgieva.

She summarized that for the first half of 2025, the Ministry of Tourism has complied with the requirements of the Public Finance Act, spending its budget in a balanced and prudent manner, within up to 50% of the total annual allocation, which she described as a normal pace of public spending.