Last year Bulgarians were warned about the possible implications of introducing visas for Ukrainian nationals. Signals of warning saying that the shrinking numbers of Ukrainian vacationers could jeopardize the country’s tourist industry were also sent. In addition, it was clear that the new order entailed extra worries for Bulgaria’s consular officials. With regard to the first warning, it is too early to make any conclusions. As visas were introduced only in October last year, any new trends in the Bulgarian tourist industry can be evaluated only after the summer season has passed. With regard to the second warning, the negative impact is here, with lines outside the Bulgarian Embassy becoming quite common. On the one hand, this fact can sound complimentary to Bulgarians as files of people wishing to obtain visas is the best indication of the attractiveness of Bulgarian resorts to Ukrainians. On the other hand, Bulgarian consular officials definitely have more work on their hands now.
In fact, the number of Ukrainian tourists going for vacations to Bulgaria is not that large. With this in mind, it seems that Kyiv was unnecessarily nervous protesting cancellation of the free travel regime by Sophia. Last year the number of Ukrainian tourists in Bulgaria was approximately 70,000, compared to 50,000 three years ago. In this context, it is worth mentioning that the total number of tourists who visited Bulgaria last year was 2.8 million. Hence, it is quite clear that the shrinking number of Ukrainians at Bulgarian resorts will not have any major impact on the country’s tourist industry, the more so that the number of German and Scandinavian tourists wishing to visit Bulgaria is increasing with each year. True, Bulgarians are not going to give up their traditional clientele from the former Soviet republics. Accordingly, the Bulgarian Embassy has a number of measures in preparation, beginning from June, designed to make it easier to get visas. Second Secretary of the Bulgarian Republic Embassy Aleksandra Dobreva told The Day that the number of consuls will be increased from two to three and technical staff from four to ten. Sophia is also scheduled to open its third consulate in Ukraine, in Donetsk, in addition to its two existing ones in Kyiv and Odesa. In addition, the Kyiv consulate will switch to a new work schedule as of June 1 operating in two shifts, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.. Embassy officials say they want to make things easy for visa applicants who will be able to choose the hours best convenient to them. Going to the embassy in the evening, Ukrainian will be saved the sultry summer sun and standing in long lines, Bulgarian diplomats are convinced.
These are not the only problems. Before introducing visas for Ukrainians the governments of Bulgaria and Ukraine had approved an agreement on mutual travel of both countries’ nationals, listing several categories of persons entitled to free visas or simplified procedures for obtaining visas. In particular, free visas are available to participants in cultural and sports contests, children under sixteen, and pensioners over sixty. While the Bulgarian side ratified the agreement last September, the Ukrainians in an emphatic manner took their time until this April, with the result that the privileges will be available to Bulgarian nationals only beginning in June. It turns out that Sophia has been unilaterally issuing free visas to some categories of Ukrainians, while Kyiv has not. Incidentally, the price of Bulgarian entry visa is not small, with an ordinary visa costing $50 and a rush one $60. This is barely enough to cover all the costs of visa processing, embassy officials maintain. It includes $20, the cost of screening an applicant using the European Union computer database, and $30, the cost of a visa itself. Tourists filing all required documents through tourist agencies get off cheaper because in this case they do not pay for their visas at all, being charged only $20 for computerized screening. The imposition of visas will dent the wallets of many Ukrainians to whom going to Bulgaria for a vacation was the cheapest kind of foreign travel, even cheaper than going to the Crimea. Whether Bulgaria’s listed measures will soften the blow from the imposition of visas for Ukraine can be seen only after the end of the tourist season. Meanwhile, what is done by the embassy is definitely worthy of attention, especially when it comes to countries slated to introduce visas for Ukrainian nationals next year, Poland and Hungary.
