Bulgarian Caretaker Tourism Minister Ilin Dimitrov announced this week in a meeting with tourism officials the launch of a major destination-marketing campaign in Bulgaria and its neighboring Balkan countries plus Poland.

Intent of the campaign is to extend Bulgaria's summer 2022 tourist season into September, in anticipation of decreased demand after August.

Summer visitation to Bulgaria is down 25% from 2019 so far in summer 2022, despite 40% growth from summer 2021 due largely to visitors from Germany and other European markets farther from Bulgaria.

Bulgaria's tourism situation is complicated by the presence in the country of more than half a million Ukrainian refugees who are being accommodated in hotels.