Soviet holiday props
In the mid 1960's both Bulgaria and Rumania's holiday beaches were being sold to the Brits as new sun spots, cheap, and exotic (lol)
Some Tour operators like Clarksons and Skytours used Dan Air Comets or Bristol Britannia's to fly to Bourgas, Varna or Constanta, but Balkan Holidays and Sunquest used 'local' airlines and pax were treated to long turbo prop flights on Russian built IL-18's of Bulair/Tabso/Bulgarian Air Transport, or Tarom.
Great, 2 weeks in the sun for £39.
Large Hotels popular with Communist party leaders had sprung up along the Black Sea coastline in the 1950s – today’s Sunny Beach and Golden Sands resorts – and the Bulgarian government saw an opportunity to promote them in the UK.
Also the USSR incoming tour company Intourist offered package holidays from the UK by Aeroflot charter flights often then on TU-104's but IL-18's were used too.
The London-based operator, Balkan Holidays which remained state-owned until 1998 and ran agency Conduit Travel until 1991, brought out its first brochure in 1966 and started its own large proper charter programme with Bulgarian Airlines from London and many UK regional airports, plus DUB.
Still going strong today, the Company established Balkan Holidays Airline (BHAir) in 2001, and at its peak in 2005-06, Balkan carried 135,000 passengers out of 21 UK airports.
When the euro was introduced in 2002, the cost of living in Spain and Portugal went through the roof, and people wanted better value. Bulgaria again ticked the boxes.