Bulgarian Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova has said more people visited ski resorts in the country around Christmas and New Year compared to the 2014-2015 winter holidays.

Early estimates suggest the increase is nearly 3 percent, with some 370 000 tourists (both domestic and foreign) visiting and hotels cashing in BGN 337 M (EUR 172 M) from accommodation, Angelkova has said in an interview with the Bulgarian National Television.

She has added half of the tourists who spent their holidays at winter resorts were from Bulgaria, the other half coming from abroad and Bansko being the ski resort for which foreign visitors show the biggest preference.

Authorities are in contact with power distributors about the problem with power brownouts in Bansko on New Year's eve and on January 01, where holidaymakers were left without electricity for much of the evening, the minister has pointed out.    

In her words, tourists from the UK, Israel, Turkey, Macedonia, Greece and Moldova is notably on the rise this winter.

Angelkova has also reiterated the government's effort to facilitate visa procedures for Russian tourists.

Without entering into details, she has added there might be free visas waiver for children, pensioners and students.

In December Angelkova said authorities expected a rise in the overall number of tourists visiting Bulgaria for the winter season, with a positive outlook on the number of Russian tourists who have been a traditional part of the country's tourism market but whose number dropped in light of the economic situation in Russia and its dispute with the West over Ukraine.

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