Bulgaria eyes Turkish visitors in tourism push

ISTANBUL  

Bulgaria’s new government has launched an initiative to strengthen cultural and tourism cooperation with Türkiye, seeking to attract more Turkish visitors through gastronomy, heritage sites and new travel routes.

The administration of Prime Minister Rumen Radev, which came to power last month, has identified tourism promotion as a key area for closer ties with Türkiye. Bulgarian authorities have begun preparations for a major campaign, with Greece’s 2.7 million visitors in 2025 serving as a benchmark for the country’s tourism ambitions.

Bulgarian Culture Minister Evtim Miloshev said Turkish tourists represent a major potential market, particularly due to their interest in food culture and historical destinations. He said Bulgaria aims to make sites such as Heraclea Sintica, the ancient Serdika ruins in central Sofia and Roman remains in Plovdiv more appealing to Turkish travelers.

“Bulgaria is close, accessible and friendly. However, today, our country is offering something new. New routes, newly discovered cultural heritage sites and archaeological findings that are changing the story of the region. Visitors will see a Bulgaria that is both familiar and surprisingly new,” Miloshev said.

In recent years, Turkish visitors have ranked among the country’s leading foreign tourist groups, with more than 2.4 million Turks traveling to Bulgaria in 2025 overall, according to official data, including cultural trips, winter tourism, shopping and short holidays.

Meanwhile, a monument commemorating the 1989 forced migration of ethnic Turks from Bulgaria was opened in Çorlu, in Türkiye’s northwestern province of Tekirdağ, one of the regions where many migrants settled after arriving in Türkiye. The monument was built to preserve the memory of the migration and ensure that the suffering experienced during the period is not forgotten.