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The corona virus pandemic is causing serious damage to cruise tourism on the Danube River, according to mr. Ivan Zhekov, director of the River Surveillance-Ruse Directorate at the Maritime Administration Agency, a statement made in an interview for BTA.

Due to the corona virus situation, the cruise tourism season, which usually starts in April, has been postponed by more than three months. Thus, the first ship with tourists docked near Ruse as late as in July.

Zhekov explained that before the start of the pandemic in August this year, 78 visits of cruise ships in Ruse were announced. Two thirds of them have already been cancelled and the situation is dynamic. All cruises with tourists from the United States, whose share is the largest on the Danube, are completely cancelled. The same goes for Canada, Australia and the UK.

Due to anti-epidemic measures, less than half of the seats on a cruise ship are filled. More so this type of tourism is preferred most by senior tourists. They are usually over 60-70 years old and fall into the so-called "risk group" affected by COVID-19. According to Zhekov, an additional difficulty for tour operators is that they have to take into account the situation regarding COVID-19 in each of the Danube countries.