Tourism Recovery after COVID-19 Pandemic in Typical Rural Areas in Bulgaria

Violetka Zheleva – Trakia University, Faculty of Economics, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria

Emil Mutafov – Trakia University, Faculty of Economics, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria

Abstract: Rural areas in Bulgaria are strategically important for the nation­al well-being in every country and Bulgaria is not an exception. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism sector was on hold with a devastating im­pact on the Accommodation establishments’ number and Nights spent. The main goal of this research is to review current data on the tourism sector in typical rural areas in Bulgaria and suggest possible measures to increase vital indicators. The study is based on three approaches to classify urban and ru­ral areas according to NUTS 3 regions. A multi-component methodology has been applied to ensure the correct treatment of the information on a region­al basis. The results presented show that there has been a decline in overnight stays and accommodation in Bulgaria. There is a recovery trend after the COVID-19 pandemic and a slight increase in both indicators. Revenue from overnight stays increases after 2020. There is a promising trend related to the development of the tourism sector.

7th International Scientific Conference on Recent Advances in Information Technology, Tourism, Economics, Management and Agriculture – ITEMA 2023 – Conference Proceedings, Hybrid (Faculty of Organization and Informatics Varaždin, University of Zagreb, Croatia), October 26, 2023

ITEMA Conference Proceedings published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans – Belgrade, Serbia

ITEMA conference partners: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor, Slovenia; Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb, Varaždin; Faculty of Geography, University of Belgrade, Serbia; Institute of Marketing, Poznan University of Economics and Business, Poland; Faculty of Agriculture, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine ”King Michael I of Romania”, Romania

ITEMA Conference 2023 Conference Proceedings: ISBN 978-86-80194-75-2, ISSN 2683-5991, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/ITEMA.2023

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission.

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