site.btaBurgas Regional Tourist Chamber Reports Successful Summer Tourist Season on Southern Black Sea Coast

The summer tourist season in Burgas Region (Southern Black Sea coast) in 2025 was successful, but reaching pre-pandemic levels will require more time and targeted work to improve the competitiveness of the region, the Burgas Regional Tourist Chamber (BRTC) said on Friday.

Burgas Airport reported a 3% increase in passengers, which neutralized the registered decline in 2024 and returned them to the levels of 2023, the BRTC noted, adding however that the lag compared to the pre-pandemic 2019 remains 37%. "The main reason for this is the lack of flights from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, which before the pandemic amounted to nearly 300,000 passengers", they explained, stressing that decreases are also reported in the markets of UK, Germany, Israel, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Norway. A negative trend can be seen in the Scandinavian markets, where declines between 4 and 39 percentage points are observed, the BRTC said, noting that the largest decrease is in Sweden and Finland, while tourists from Denmark and Norway maintain their volumes close to 2024.

On the other hand, Poland overtook the UK as the largest market for the region this summer, with the two countries accounting for a total of 44% of traffic at Burgas Airport. While the Polish market recorded a growth of 3% compared to 2024 and returned to the levels of 2019, the British market recorded a 5% decline due to the canceled Balkan Holidays programme at the beginning of the season. The Czech Republic and Germany retain the third and fourth positions in terms of volume, with the German market recording the most serious growth of 51% compared to 2024 and the best result since the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourists from Israel and Slovakia also increased significantly by 21% and 10%, respectively.

The  overnight stays logged in Burgas Region for the May - August period totalled 8.4 million, which is 3% more than in 2024 and at the level of 2019, the BRTC stated. The bed base in the region in July and August 2025 increased by 7% compared to 2024 and by 13% compared to 2019. Revenue from overnight stays reached BGN 837 million, which represents a growth of 20% compared to 2024 and 78% compared to 2019. The average occupancy rate of accommodation was 56%, which was below the levels of 2024 and 2019. The average tourist stay remained 4.9 days in the region.

BRTC highlighted that in 2025 there has been a continuing change in the ratio between foreign and Bulgarian tourists, namely 70% to 30%, compared to 80% to 20% before the pandemic, with overnight stays by foreign tourists being 5% more compared to 2024. However, this still marked a decline of 10% compared to 2019. Bulgarian tourists declined by 2% compared to 2024, but have increased by 37% compared to the pre-pandemic 2019.

The summer tourist season in 2025 was aided by favorable weather conditions, the BRTC pointed out, adding that this led to better occupancy in June and good results in September as well. The trends in the markets of Romania, Ukraine and Turkiye were particularly positive, as serious tourist movement was observed due to the simplified visa regime for Turkish citizens and Bulgaria's membership in Schengen.

Among the main challenges for the tourism sector remain the shortage of personnel, high costs, short season and unfair practices, the regional tourist chamber emphasized, noting that the growth in tourism revenues is mainly due to increased prices, and not to higher employment, which raises questions about profitability.