Bulgarians flock to Edirne for New Year

EDİRNE

Bulgarian citizens, who meet all their needs, from clothing to food, from the northwestern province of Edirne, have also preferred the border city for New Year celebrations, not leaving empty spaces in the hotels and restaurants they had booked days in advance.

While the number of Bulgarians traveling to Edirne for shopping is increasing day by day, the citizens of the neighboring country plan to spend New Year’s Eve in Türkiye, according to sector representatives.

Musicians added Bulgarian music to their repertoire and cooks added Bulgarian dishes to their menus as the intensity experienced in hotels and restaurants is expected to continue at New Year’s Eve.

“There is a great interest of Bulgarian citizens in all businesses in Edirne. We allocated 10 percent capacity for Bulgarians in our venue, which is now completely full,” said Burak Cansever, the manager of a restaurant in the city.

Lighting decorations were made at many points of Edirne for New Year’s celebrations.

Meanwhile, Bulgarians also flocked to the local markets and streets of Edirne for shopping. They stay in hotels they have booked days before and shop for two-three days.

With the high demand of thousands of Bulgarians, hotels in Edirne reached 100 percent occupancy rate, said Birhan Didin, a hotel staff member in the region.

Bulgarian citizens make up 90 percent of the customers in the markets, tradesmen in the region said.

The municipality even gave training on how to communicate with Bulgarian citizens by distributing a Turkish-Bulgarian shopping dictionary to market workers and personnel working in municipal enterprises.

A recent decision on July 27 allowed Bulgarian visitors to stay in the country for a maximum of 90 days on visa-free travel.

The move is designed to attract more tourists from the neighboring country, which will give a boost to the hard currency earnings of Türkiye.

However, Turkish citizens are still required to obtain a visa to visit Bulgaria.