European Climate Policy Impact on Rural Tourism in Bulgaria

The tourism sector is of a high significance to the Bulgarian economy, as more than 11% of the country’s GDP is generated by the sector. The political and macroeconomic developments in Europe in the last few years had a significant impact on the sector, but the impact of climate change has been a rising concern for many tourism operators in Bulgaria. The European Union is involved in creating overarching solutions, that will work for all member states as part of The European Green Deal. Rural communities in Bulgaria face a demographic crisis alongside the climate one, as young people are leaving. Rural tourism has been a viable solution to keep young entrepreneurs in rural areas and have created opportunities for rural communities in Bulgaria. For rural tourism to keep developing a sustainable solution to climate change must be implemented by ways of European climate policy, as local resources and inefficient to face these problems. The goal of this study is to analyze the impact of European climate policies on the ongoing development of rural tourism in Bulgaria, in its struggle with the impact of climate change on rural communities.