"The tourism industry is one of the sectors that should be among our key partners in the implementation of the euro adoption campaign in Bulgaria". This was the message delivered by Deputy Minister of Finance Metodi Metodiev during the discussion on “Bulgarian tourism and Bulgaria’s accession to the euro area”. He shared his expectation with the sector’s representatives that in July this year there would be a decision from the European institutions and an announcement of a specific date for the introduction of the euro in the country which was expected to be 1 January 2026.
The Deputy Minister commented that according to the Law on the Introduction of the Euro in the Republic of Bulgaria, all prices offered to consumers should be labelled in BGN and EUR during the so-called “period of dual display”. This period will start one month after the adoption of the Decision on the Adoption of the Euro by Bulgaria by the Council of the EU and will end 12 months after the introduction of the single currency. This practically means that upon the adoption of the Council Decision in July 2025, which our expectation is, the dual display period will start in August 2025 and will end at the end of December 2026.
He announced that at the last meeting of the Coordination Council for the preparation of the Republic of Bulgaria for euro area membership it had become clear that the administrative bodies whose software was owned by the state were largely ready and had taken actions for successful adaptation of their software systems to work with the single European currency. The legislator has provided for a period of three months before euro area accession for all other economic operators to adapt their software products.
Answering questions from the tourism industry regarding the exchange rate, the Deputy Minister said that according to a decision of the National Assembly our country would join the euro area with the current rate of BGN 1.95583 per euro.
Metodi Metodiev provided information that an active information campaign on our accession to the euro area was to be launched. More than 100 events were planned to be held throughout Bulgaria, including in all 28 regional centres. At present, some of the tenders had already been announced and others were due in the next few weeks. He reminded that a special website containing detailed information about the introduction of the euro in Bulgaria had been launched since last year – www.evroto.bg. It contains a Q&A section where both businesses and citizens can find information on a number of topics concerning the process of euro area accession.
According to the Deputy Minister, the economic and financial benefits for Bulgaria upon joining the euro area would also have positive effects in terms of the so-called institutional convergence because the quality of work of the institutions in Bulgaria would improve. These effects are confirmed by various economic sources.