Edirne expects more Bulgarian visitors as PCR test rule eased

EDİRNE

With the Bulgarian government’s decision to ease PCR test requirements for people arriving, business owners in the northwestern province of Edirne are hopeful of soon witnessing a heavy inflow of tourists from the neighboring country.

Starting Feb. 1, Bulgaria will require people to show a vaccine card or present a PCR test with a negative result taken within 48 to 72 hours before entering the country.

Previously people shuttling between the two countries needed to take the test each time when returning from Turkey to Bulgaria.

Amid the rise in coronavirus cases in this country, the Bulgarian authorities earlier this month made it mandatory for people to provide the vaccine card and at the same time take the PCR test to be allowed entry to Bulgaria.

After this rule was introduced, the number of Bulgarians visiting the Turkish border province plunged immediately, as taking the PCR test was both costly and inconvenient when traveling between the two countries.

Before the tighter PCR test rule came into force, some 10,000 Bulgarians visited the Turkish province on weekends for shopping or overnight stays.
But, the number of visitors declined to around 3,000 after the test rule was introduced.

After Bulgaria eased the travel rules, businesses in Edirne have taken a sigh of relief.

“This is a welcome development. Around 85 percent of our customers are from Bulgaria, and our business was very good until the end of last year. But, when this rule was introduced, they stopped coming,” said Muhammed Kaplan, who owns a dessert shop in Edirne.

Kaplan is hopeful that his business will flourish again.

Tolgahan Alfer, another business owner in the province, agrees that those good old days would be back.

The stricter PCR rule ruined businesses in the province, Alfer said. “Our revenues collapsed,” he added.