80% of travellers do not like cigarette smoke in restaurants.
According to chairman of the Association of Bulgarian Tour Operators and Travel Agents, Bayko Baikov, Bulgarian Tourism needs a complete ban on smoking in public places.
Baikov shared his views at the 13th annual meeting of the association in Veliko Tarnovo. According to him, visitors prefer to relax in a clean environment with clean air.
He also said that the increase in tourist numbers by 5-6 % during the winter was due to the smoking ban. Such was also the case in neighbouring countries who also reported an increase in tourists because of it.
The National Assembly is to discuss the partial removal of the ban in near future. The liberalization was rejected by the health committee, but supported by the economic.