June 19 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's tourism ministry expects a decrease of over 50% year-on-year in tourism revenue this year under its most pessimistic scenario, tourism minister Nikolina Angelkova said.
However, if all planned summer charter flights, mostly from the UK and Russia to the coastal airports in Varna and Burgas, take place, the projection is for a 30% - 40% drop, Angelkova said, as seen in a video file published on the website of local television Nova TV on Thursday.
Tourism, which contributes about 12% to Bulgaria’s gross domestic product (GDP), was among the sectors hit worst by the coronavirus crisis, the tourism minister noted.
According to the latest data published by the National Statistical Institute (NSI), revenue from tourist overnights spent in Bulgaria slumped by 95.5% on the year to 2.3 million levs ($1.3 million/1.2 million euro) in April, as the coronavirus crisis took its toll on the hospitality business. Revenue from tourism overnights fell by an annual 56.6% in March - the month when the first coronavirus cases were registered in Bulgaria.
In a bid to support the country's struggling tourism sector, Bulgaria's parliament announced earlier this month that it has cut the value added tax (VAT) rate for restaurant and catering services to 9% from 20%. The lower VAT rate will apply from July 1, 2020 until December 31, 2021.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)