More than 500 000 UK tourists visited Bulgaria in 2006. Many tourists came to Bulgaria, bought real estate and stayed in the country, UK deputy chief of mission Nick Leake said for Monitor.

Leake was on a day visit to Smolyan during which he met the mayor of Smolyan and management of the regional administration. With tourism sector representatives, he discussed opportunities for the development of the region. Leake said that it was important for tourism companies to decide which is more important, to attract fewer but wealthy tourists or larger groups of tourists with less money to spend, the newspaper reported. Nearly 600 UK people live in the region of Smolyan.

Britons come to Bulgaria attracted by the mountains, the sea and the exceptional nature, Leake said.