September 20 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian unit of British tour operator Thomas Cook expects to welcome more than 200,000 foreign tourists to the southeast European country in 2016, a 34% increase over 2015, the tourism ministry in Sofia said on Tuesday.
The company plans to maintain the same annual growth rate in 2017, the ministry said in a press release.
Peter Fankhauzer, CEO of Thomas Cook Group, said that it is very important that the work in Bulgaria continued towards guaranteeing the quality of tourism services and increasing investments.
In June, Bulgarian hotel and resort operator Albena [BUL:6AB] and tour operator Thomas Cook Scandinavia, part of Thomas Cook Group, invested 40 million levs ($23.1 million/ 20.5 million euro) in the renovation and expansion of the White Lagoon seaside resort near Kavarna, in northeastern Bulgaria.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)