Bulgarian Tourism Sector Seeks State Support Amid Decline in Israeli and Regional Tourists
Jerusalem, 9 March, 2026 (TPS-IL) -- Sofia (BTA) – The Bulgarian state must help attract new tourists after tourists from the Middle East refused to take vacations in our country due to the war in Iran. according military conflict. This is what the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (BHRA) insists on in a letter to the Minister of Tourism Irena Georgieva, signed by the chairman of the organization Georgi Shterev, the Association announced.
The US and Israeli attack on Iran has caused widespread disruption to flights in the Middle East and beyond, with a number of countries closing their airspace and three key airports connecting Europe, Africa and the West with Asia shutting down. Hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded or rerouted.
According to the BHRA, special attention needs to be paid to incentives to attract tourists to Bulgaria, especially since, according to the organization, potential competitors of Bulgaria for summer vacations are threatened by an outflow of tourists who will look for new options for their vacation.
If the state does not help the tourism business compensate for the refusals of Israeli ski tourists, whose number in Bansko and the Northern Black Sea Coast alone is estimated at over 70,000, the business will be forced to lay off part of its staff, and the state will allocate funds for social assistance to people left without work, warns the BHRA.
The letter argues that such incentives would be more reasonable and more effective than spending money from the social ministry to support laid-off staff.
The Executive Bureau of the BHRA also supports the proposal of its regional structure, the Union of Tourism Business Bansko, to support the tourism sector in connection with the military conflict in the Middle East. The request will be considered at the relevant institutional level, and measures will be taken to financially support staff employed in the tourism industry, thus ensuring the sector’s stability. The BHRA points out that cancellations of reservations by guests from the Middle East are not only a problem for winter tourism, but for holiday tourism in general and pose a serious problem for the upcoming summer season.
According to the BHRA, the Bulgarian market is the largest reserve for compensating for losses from the cancellations of tourists from the Middle East. Therefore, the organization expects the state to take measures to stimulate the Bulgarian market and compensate the tourism sector, given the complex situation related to the conflict in the Middle East.
A report from the National Statistical Institute indicates that the total number of visits to Bulgaria by citizens from Israel in 2025 was 219,067, and during the active winter season – January, February, March, their number was respectively: 15,167, 16,224 and 18,479, and during the summer season – July and August – 29,062 and 37,676.
