Phuket Bulgaria flight opens TAT push for Balkan tourists

A new Phuket Bulgaria flight has landed on the island, with Bulgarian carrier GullivAir starting a weekly seasonal service from Sofia as the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) pushes to win more high-spending visitors from the Balkans, The Phuket News reported on Tuesday.

The inaugural flight, GBG701, touched down at Phuket International Airport at 6:55am on Friday, November 6, after leaving Vasil Levski Sofia Airport the afternoon before. The route will run once a week using a 240-seat Airbus A330-200.

Phuket Bulgaria flight: key details

• Airline: GullivAir, a Bulgarian carrier founded in 2020
• Route: Sofia to Phuket, seasonal, once weekly
• Aircraft: Airbus A330-200 with 240 seats
• First arrival: November 6 at 6:55am local time
• Next plan: a Sofia to Bangkok route, with no start date announced yet

The first passengers were greeted by Urai Mukpradabthong, TAT deputy director for Europe, together with officials from TAT Phuket, the airport, the Phuket Tourist Association and the airline.

Romanian tour operators tour the Andaman coast

The new air link is part of a wider effort to build demand in south-eastern Europe. Alongside the flight launch, TAT has been hosting 12 tour operators from Romania on a familiarisation trip through Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga from November 2 to 10.

The trip was organised by the TAT office in Prague with Romanian association Unite for Travel and the airline Flydubai. It is designed to promote multi-stop holidays that link several Andaman provinces rather than a single beach stay.

The group has visited the Phi Phi Islands, the Similan Islands, Khao Tapu (better known as James Bond Island), the stilt village of Koh Panyi and Phuket Old Town. Their schedule also included a cocktail workshop at the home of Chalong Bay Rum in Phuket.

Business-to-business sessions were held to match the Romanian agents with local hotels and tour firms, first at a resort in Krabi on November 4 and then in Phuket on November 9.

Why the Balkans matter for Phuket

The numbers are still small but growing. TAT figures cited by The Phuket News show Thailand welcomed 6,266,567 European visitors between January 1 and October 31. Of those, 97,655 came from the Balkan region, a rise of 5.42% on the same period last year.

Bulgaria accounted for 15,029 arrivals, up 8.07%, while Romania sent 41,758 visitors, an increase of 5.40%. TAT says Phuket is a leading choice for travellers from these markets, who are drawn by beaches, marine activities, community-based tourism and soft adventure.

That growth matters as Thailand looks for new source markets. Recent data showed Chinese tourist arrivals fell 13.6% in October, putting more pressure on the industry to spread its risks across a wider range of countries.

Part of a wider airline strategy

TAT describes the Phuket Bulgaria flight as part of its airline partnership strategy, which aims to add international air links while developing longer-stay travel products for visitors with greater spending power. Direct services cut travel time and cost for smaller European markets that would otherwise rely on connections through Gulf or other hubs.

The agency has also been using incentives to boost seat capacity for the high season, including flight subsidies to lift year-end arrivals. Phuket has been working on regional ties as well, such as the recent Phuket and Singapore tourism talks.

For hotels, tour operators and transport firms on the island, even a single weekly widebody flight can bring a steady flow of guests through the November to April peak season. Whether the route returns next year will likely depend on how well it fills over the coming months.

The original report was published by The Phuket News.

Image: An Airbus A330-300 taking off from Phuket International Airport, the same aircraft family used on the new Phuket Bulgaria flight. Photo by Richard Vandervord via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.