Tourism suffered more than many other sectors amid Covid-19 travel restrictions. This article looks at the impact of the pandemic on the territorial redistribution of tourist flows in the Baltic region. The study draws on regional annual and monthly data on international and domestic tourist arrivals between 2019 and 2021, available on the websites of the statistical offices of the Baltic Region countries. The regions earlier dependent on tourist arrivals from Russia experienced the largest drop in inbound tourism during the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, domestic tourism burgeoned in most of the region’s countries. In 2021, the most dramatic increase in domestic arrivals occurred, year on year, in the border regions of Russia’s Northwest Federal District; the growth was also notable in Finland and the Baltic States. Domestic tourist flow compensated, partially or even fully, for the decrease in inbound tourist flow in most regions. The structure of inbound tourism changed markedly during the pandemic, with the share of tourists from the Baltic States growing. The strongest rise was in some regions of southern Finland and more modest in Latvia and Lithuania.

Measuring the effectiveness of the accumulated “soft power” by states is a problem that is actively discussed in the academic community. A characteristic feature of “soft power” is that it is not applied directly, but is a consequence of the resulting effect of various social events and initiatives in the process of using the potential of states. The key resources influencing the achievement of “soft power” lie mainly in the humanitarian sphere. The purpose of the study is to track the assessment of the “soft power” of Bulgaria, reflected in its geopolitical image. The measurement of Bulgaria's soft power is based on the tools of five authoritative international ratings: Elcano Global Presence Index, The Global Competitiveness Index, Brand Finance, Bloom Consulting, FutureBrand. For an adequate assessment of “soft power” in these ratings, a comparison of Bulgaria with other Balkan countries with similar potential, as well as with Turkey as a regional geopolitical leader, was applied. The data is systematized in tables and charts. A significant share of Bulgaria's “soft power” is traditionally created thanks to its cultural potential, which is characterized by the features of the priceless spiritual, archaeological, architectural and ethnographic heritage of the country. The study made it possible to find ways to increase the national self-esteem, uniqueness and international prestige of Bulgaria through the prism of increasing the importance of culture to the level of a national priority.