The amount of foreign tourists to Bulgaria is expected to increase by 7 percent in 2008, Anelia Krushkova, president of the Bulgarian State Agency for Tourism (SAT), said Wednesday.

Krushkova made the prediction at the opening ceremony for the tourism season at the country's famous St Constantine and Elena resort.

In the first quarter of this year, revenue from international tourism totaled 291.4 million euros (460.41 million U.S. dollars), and foreign tourists who come to Bulgaria increased by 20 percent compared with the same period of 2007.

The SAT head said that an agreement on attracting more foreign tourists will be signed with South Korea. Similar agreements were signed recently with Iran and the Czech Republic.

Last year, Bulgaria was visited by more than 5 million foreign tourists who spent some 2.28 billion euros (3.6 billion dollars), an increase of 10.8 percent on 2006's figure.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2008)