This summer will end with results close to last year's, tourism minister Ilin Dimitrov told BNT. The final tally for the summer will be ready in October.

The season started badly because Bulgaria lost some key markets, the minister said on the show "The Day Starts with Georgi Lyubenov".

Dimitrov added: "This season was complicated, it was a challenge, it was a season full of hard questions. As a country, we handled it well."

The tourism ministry has already lined up more flights to the seaside airports in Varna and Burgas for next summer. Germany has added more than 150,000 extra seats, the Polish market is growing fast, and the minister expects even more tourists from the Benelux countries.

Next year Burgas will host the Eurovision Song Contest, run by BNT. Dimitrov expects the contest to draw more tourists and said the city will be the best host the contest has ever had.

Hoteliers and tourism experts told BNT the season was tough. Fewer tourists came to the Black Sea coast this summer than last year, and people in the industry blame high inflation, higher prices at some hotels and restaurants, and fewer charter flights to Bulgaria.

"By my estimate, the number of overnight stays will most likely be lower than last year, but revenue will match what we made last year," Professor Stoyan Marinov, co-chair of the Varna Tourism Chamber, told BNT.

He said profits and overall financial results will stay well below those of 2025 and 2024.

Hotelier Tihomir Stratiev said this season's contracts were signed the year before, when no one could have predicted the inflation. He hopes things will get back to normal in coming seasons.