[size=55:5g9k3mvs]BNR

Heightened security measures in Bulgaria’s summer resorts

Bulgaria’s Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism expects a 12% growth of foreign tourists on the Bulgarian coast this summer. In the peak of the season, the country’s coastal resorts will accommodate, as usual, hundreds of people from the EU. To secure the safety and peace of foreigners, Bulgaria will join forces with the foreign missions in the country.
Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov has met with EU ambassadors to discuss the security of foreign citizens along the Bulgarian coast. In fact, meetings between security bodies representatives and European diplomats on the eve of tourist seasons have become an established practice. Early last winter, after a similar meeting, the Interior Ministry took measures to minimize motorway robberies, currency exchange frauds and other unpleasant incidents that can spoil foreigners’ vacations in Bulgaria. To that end, the country sent police officers with a command of several languages to the mountain resorts to make sure that foreign guests are safe. At the moment, authorities are discussing similar measures to guarantee the tourists’ good rest on the Black sea.

“Robberies, bribery of police officers, etc- we had to take measures against these occurrences”, said Mr Tsvetanov during a press briefing after the meeting with the foreign ambassadors.” We have set up an organization to keep guard of these practices, and that was assessed positively by the foreign missions in Bulgaria. At the beginning of the winter season, at the initiative of the British and Irish embassies in Bulgaria, additional measures related to the safety of the tourists in the winter resorts were taken. The dispatch of police officers to Bulgaria’s ski centres, who worked together with Greek ones on location, led to fewer complains on the part of foreigners. These results have been noted at the recent meeting with the ambassadors. We discussed ways to cooperate during the coming summer season, in order to provide the safety and good rest of our foreign guests”, said Interior Minister Tsvetanov.

“We represent a special group of countries that are interested in the mass tourism in Bulgaria. Therefore, we met with Mr. Tsvetanov and introduced him to our proposals concerning the safety of our citizens”, said Norwegian Ambassador to Bulgaria Tove Skarstein.