Bulgaria will hire more staff at its consulates and launch a new online booking system to make visas easier for Turkish tourists, the tourism ministry's press office said.

Tourism minister Ilin Dimitrov discussed the steps with Turkish culture and tourism minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy at the World Travel Market 2026 fair in London. The booking system has yet to be tested.

More staff will process more applications, so visa applicants will wait less. The press office said the new system should make the process simpler and more predictable.

Dimitrov called the changes a real reform of a problem that the tourism sector has raised for years. "When someone wants to spend a weekend or a holiday in Bulgaria, getting a visa should not be the reason they choose another destination," he said.

He thanked prime minister Rumen Radev and foreign minister Velislava Petrova for taking up the issue. He said the steps are the result of joint work by the tourism ministry, the foreign ministry and other institutions.

From January to August 2026, nearly 192,000 Turkish tourists registered at places to stay in Bulgaria. Turkish citizens made about 746,000 visits to Bulgaria in the same period.

The two ministers discussed more tourism exchanges, as well as joint products and routes based on the shared history, culture and food traditions of the two countries.

Dimitrov also invited Turkish universities to join the Association of Higher Schools that train staff for tourism, which has already been set up in Bulgaria. The aim is to build an international education network with universities from the Balkans and, later, from Europe, to exchange students, teachers, knowledge and good practice. This would link education with the tourism business.

Earlier the same day, Dimitrov met Greek tourism minister Olga Kefalogianni. They discussed a new plan for cooperation in tourism for 2027-2029 and possible joint advertising campaigns in distant markets, including under programmes and projects of the European Travel Commission.