Over 2,000 people to visit Edirne at weekend

EDİRNE

With the influx of Bulgarians for New Year’s Eve, sector representatives expect to host over 2,000 visitors in the border province of Edirne on Dec. 31.

While the number of Bulgarians traveling to Edirne for shopping is increasing day by day, the citizens of the neighboring country have formed long vehicle queues at the Kapıkule Border Gate.

There will be a large number of local and foreign visitors this New Year’s Eve as every year, said Gökhan Balta, Edirne representative of the Turkish Hoteliers Association (TÜROB).

Balta said they expect more than 2,000 visitors on New Year’s Eve, “There will be around 20 to 30 percent locals in this. Apart from those who will stay, there will be also those who come for the day. They spend the night here and go to their homes with an hour’s drive.”

Reminding that there was a similar density last year, Balta stated that the entertainment sector expanded and the number of beds in the accommodation sector increased this year.

“We have heavy guest traffic coming from the Balkans. Our current booking density is around 70 percent of all hotels in Edirne. We believe that this will reach 80-85 percent until the last night.”

Noting that the majority of the tourists come for the Turkish entertainment culture, Balta said, “We will have an extremely enjoyable night with our guests.”

“We will buy cheese, textiles, detergent, and also a lot of baklava for New Year’s Eve,” said Demir Demir, a Bulgarian tourist visiting the region.

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.

Between January-May, nearly 950,000 Bulgarian nationals visited Türkiye, claiming the second spot on the list of foreign tourists after Germans. Bulgarians accounted for 8.3 percent of all foreign tourist arrivals.