Bulgarian Tourism Loses 5 Million Eur Due To Visa Problems

The fast issuing of tourist visa for citizens of CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) will help the Bulgarian tourist branch. All measures undertaken so far by the Bulgarian state only worsen the situation with the issuing of visa. This claimed Chavdar Alexandrov, chairman of the Association for promotion of foreign investment.Even the introduction of electronic submission of documents was not in a rational way and instead of easing the situation, on the contrary - makes the tourism of the Russian tourist here more difficult, is said in a statement sent to the media, informs burgasinfo.com.According to Alexandrov, the problem is that after submitting electronically his documents, the person wishing to have a holiday in Bulgaria, must wait on a queue to receive his visa and the payment can be done only in cash in the Bulgarian consulates.This of course, is a prerequisite for corruption, believes Alexandrov. It is logical this complicated procedure to make the Russian citizens prefer other tourist destinations.Chavdar Alexandrov insisted on the government, the State agency on tourism and the Ministry of foreign affairs to find a way to solve the visa problem, because tens of thousands of people from Belarus have already re-directed from Bulgaria to Turkey, Greece or Spain only because of this problem. This is 4-5 million euro loss for the Bulgarian economy, concluded Alexandrov.