Officials Discuss Setting Up of Call Centre for Russian Tourists in Bulgaria

Bulgarian and Russian officials discussed the idea of setting up a specialised call centre in Bulgaria, which is to provide up-to-date information to Russian tourists.

This was one of the topics discussed during the meeting between Bulgarian Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova and the Head of Russia's Federal Agency for Tourism Oleg Safonov in Moscow on Wednesday.

Angelkova was on a visit to Moscow in order to discuss  possible measures for increasing the number of Russian tourists to the country.

The two countries made a commitment to explore the opportunities for setting up of the call centre and to renew the talks as early as possible, the press service of the tourism ministry informs.

Safonov said that he will be delighted if more Russian tourists decide to choose Bulgaria for their holiday as the country was a good option.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian authorities warned citizens to consider carefully their holiday destinations.

According to the latest figures, there was a 31.4 % drop in the number of Russian excursions abroad for the first nine months of the year.

Angelkova vowed to explore all opportunities and continue talks with the foreign ministry on facilitating  the issue of visas and the opening of new visa centres (in addition to the 21 already functioning ones).

The two officials agreed to hold a bilateral round table on the topic in Moscow in February next year.

They also agreed to organise more bilateral meetings between business representatives with a focus on child tourism within the framework of the international tourism exhibition in Moscow in March.

Tourism is also expected to be included on the agenda of the inter-governmental commission for economic and scientific-technical cooperation, which is scheduled to take place in Bulgaria in January.