Bulgaria will increase the price of visas for Russian tourists from €35 to €80 following a decision taken at the EU level, announced the caretaker Minister of Tourism, Ilin Dimitrov.
In an interview with Bulgarian National Television, Dimitrov explained that the cost of a visa was €80 but had been discounted for Russians to just €35, but not for much longer.”This discount will disappear. There is no way to ban Russians from entering, but their visa will become more expensive. This is an EU decision with which we do not fully agree, but as members of the union, we will have to comply,” he added.
Over 60,000 Russians have visited Bulgaria since the start of the year despite the lack of direct flights, suspended after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
“There are Russians by the sea. The Russians have about 100,000 properties along our Black Sea coast. They enter through Turkey, pay serious costs to land in Bulgaria, but still come,” Dimitrov said.
Dimitrov also explained that about 20,000 Ukrainian refugees are currently accommodated in Bulgarian hotels, and an attempt will be made to extend the government’s housing programme for the accommodation of Ukrainian refugees until the end of October.
He stated that his main task is to repay the hoteliers. They were paid first with money from the state budget before all expenses were covered by EU funding.
“The spending of every single penny will be checked. When we are 100% sure there is no fraud, everything will be paid. At the end of the programme, there will be a period of 10 days, and anyone will be able to file a complaint. If there is a mistake, it will be corrected,” assured Dimitrov.
-Euractiv