Skift Take
Long overshadowed by "Old Europe" for tourism, the Balkans are emerging as the center of "New Europe." But you better book now since the travelers' secret is out.
Fifteen years ago, freshly out of cubicle culture, I made the bold decision to start a travel blog. I felt travel was on the verge of a transformation and wanted a URL to reflect the changing times. But I soon found my first choice — newtravel.com – was already taken.
By some travel agency in Bulgaria.
Those days before Twitter and Facebook feel as ancient as the Dewey Decimal System now, but I’m fascinated that Bulgaria stumbled onto that phrase first. And shortly after missing on newtravel, I began covering Bulgaria for Lonely Planet. Its 19th-century revivalist architecture, cheap local wines sold from empty jugs on street corners, and quiet roads crisscrossing mountains immediately wooed me. (The ketchup-on-pizza thing was less convincing.) Eventually I even ventured into the energetic newtravel.com office, aka Odysseia-In, which has since changed its site to hiking-bulgaria.com.
Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007, is never going to rank with France or China or the USA in terms of top travel destinations. But it’s become an anchor of what could be called the hottest part of “New Europe,” the Balkans.
Over the period from 2005 to 2015, tourism arrivals to Europe rose from 452 million to 605 million, a rise of 33.6 percent (per WTO reports). Looking at indiv
