COOKIE POLICY
SUBJECT
This policy applies to cookies or similar tools on the website www.travelbooks.bg (hereinafter referred to as the “Site,” “website,” “Website”) operated by “Travel Books” Ltd., UIC 203279952, VAT No. BG 203279952, with its registered office and Registered office: Sofia, 12 Georgi Bakalov St., Contact phone numbers: +359 877 571558, +359 876 697 669 (hereinafter referred to as “We” for brevity).
When you visit www.travelbooks.bg for the first time, we will ask you to accept the use of “cookies” in accordance with the terms of this policy. By using our website and accepting this policy, you consent to our use of “cookies.”
THE NATURE OF COOKIES
A cookie is a small file consisting of letters and numbers that is stored on your computer, mobile device, or other equipment when you have Internet access. A cookie is installed via a request sent from a website’s server to the browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, Chrome), and is completely “passive” (it does not contain software programs, viruses, or spyware, and does not have access to information stored on the user’s hardware).
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF COOKIES?
We use cookies or similar tools on our website to improve its performance and your experience in accordance with all applicable standards and laws in this area. Generally speaking, the purpose of cookies is to ensure the efficiency and usefulness of our Site, to ensure its proper functioning, and to remember important actions (for example, what you have added to your “cart,” which pages of the Site you visit most often, whether you have saved certain settings, and whether you receive error messages from certain pages). With the help of cookies, the Site correctly displays the availability of products that you can add to your shopping cart.
Cookies make it possible to recognize the user’s device and present its content in a manner tailored to the user’s preferences. Cookies ensure a pleasant experience for the user while browsing the Internet and help the Site offer products and services tailored to users, such as online privacy preferences, in the shopping cart, or targeted advertising. They are also used to compile anonymous statistics that help us understand how a user prefers to use our web pages, allowing us to improve their structure and content, without identifying the user personally. Thanks to cookies, the Site correctly displays product availability, which you can add to your shopping list in the shopping cart;
WHAT KINDS OF COOKIES DO WE USE?
Our website uses several types of cookies—essential cookies, session cookies, and third-party cookies.
Essential cookies
These are strictly necessary for the website to function and are stored as a file on your computer or mobile device for an extended period of time, typically for the duration set by the cookies or until they are manually deleted by the user. We use these cookies to authenticate our users when they use the website, so that we can provide our services, comply with our Terms and Conditions, and maintain the security of our services.
Session cookies
Session cookies are temporary files that remain on your device for the duration of your visit to our website and remain active until the end of your user session or until you close the application (web browser), after which they are deleted. We may also use session cookies, for example:
- to allow you to navigate between the different pages of our website without having to log in again;
- so that we can recognize you when you return to our website to use our services;
Cookies and technologies, including third-party pixels
We also use some third-party cookies as part of our services. These cookies are managed by the respective websites and are not under our control. Listed below are the third-party cookies we use; some of these can be disabled through your browser’s general settings. For others, you’ll need to visit the respective websites of the technology provider or browser and follow the instructions provided. These service providers may collect your IP address and non-personally identifiable information about your visits to our website. Some of these advertising cookies enable the display of our ads while you are visiting other websites. This non-personally identifiable information is anonymous, in accordance with the privacy policies of these third parties, and does not include your name, address, email address, or other personal information; however, your IP address may be collected. Anonymous information is collected through the use of pixel tags (also known as “cookies” and action tags), which is a standard technology used by most major websites. These cookies and technologies are often referred toas “targeting cookies” and are used to: limiting the number of times you see an ad; measuring the effectiveness of an advertising campaign; tracking people’s behavior after they see an ad. They are usually installed on behalf of advertising networks with the website operator’s permission. They remember that you have visited a website and are often linked to website functionality provided by another organization.
We use Doubleclick.net for remarketing and display ads on Google;
We use Facebook—it allows us to track users’ actions after they have viewed or clicked on an ad on Facebook. This enables us to track the effectiveness of our Facebook ads and collect data for statistical purposes. The data collected in this way is anonymous to us; we do not receive any information about users’ identities. However, the data from Facebook is stored and processed in such a way that it can be linked to the respective user profile, and Facebook may use the information for its own advertising purposes, in accordance with Facebook’s data usage policy.
We use Google Analytics from Google to generate statistics on website traffic and traffic sources.
We use MailerLite at mailerlite.com or similar services to allow unregistered users to subscribe to our free newsletter.
We use Yandex.ru to generate information about orders, website traffic, and ad impressions.
We use Intercom at intercom.com so that you can use the chat feature provided on the Site.
We use pixel tags (web beacons), which do not store information on your device, but they may work in conjunction with “cookies” to track website activity.
If you are concerned about third-party advertising cookies generated by advertisers, you can opt out here: the Your Online Choices website.
LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES
The Site contains links that, if you follow them, may take you to the websites of other companies and organizations. For example, if you click the Facebook “Like” button or log in to our Site via this social network, you are sharing data with these third parties. We are not responsible for their content or data protection policies. These other websites, services, and applications may set their own “cookies” on users’ computers, collect data, or request personal information.
DO COOKIES CONTAIN PERSONAL DATA?
By themselves, cookies do not require personal information to function and, in most cases, do not identify individual Internet users. Personal data collected through the use of cookies may be collected solely to facilitate the user’s experience. This data is encrypted in a way that prevents unauthorized persons from accessing it.
CAN COOKIES BE BLOCKED, AND HOW?
Generally, a web browser allows cookies to be stored by default. These settings can be changed so that the web browser automatically blocks cookies or notifies the user each time cookies are sent to their device. Detailed information about the options and methods for managing cookies can be found in the application settings (in the web browser). Restricting the use of cookies may affect certain features of the website.
Most browsers allow you to opt out of cookies; for example:
- In Internet Explorer (version 10), you can block cookies by going to “Settings,” “Internet Options,” “Privacy,” and then “Advanced”;
- In Firefox (version 24), you can block all “cookies” by clicking “Tools,” “Options,” “Privacy,” select “Use custom settings for history” from the drop-down menu, and uncheck the box;
- In Chrome (version 29), you can block all “cookies” by opening the “Personalization and control” menu and clicking “Settings,” “Show advanced settings,” and “Content settings”
Blocking all cookies will have a negative impact on the usability of many websites. If you block cookies, you will not be able to use all the features of our website.
DELETING COOKIES
You can delete “cookies” that are already stored on your computer; for example:
- In Internet Explorer (version 10), you must manually delete the cookie files (you can find instructions on how to do this HERE;
- In Firefox (version 24), you can delete cookies by clicking “Tools,” “Options,” and “Privacy,” then select “Use custom settings for history,” click “Show Cookies,” and select “Cookies”;
- In Chrome (version 29), you can delete all “cookies” by opening the “Personalization and Control” menu and clicking “Settings,” “Show advanced settings,” and “Clear browsing data” and other data related to websites and extensions “before clicking” Clear browsing data “.
Deleting cookies will have a negative impact on the usability of many websites.
WHY COOKIES ARE IMPORTANT ON THE INTERNET
Cookies are essential for the effective functioning of the Internet, helping to create a profile of each user’s preferences and interests. Refusing or disabling cookies may make some websites impossible to use.
Refusing or disabling cookies does not mean that you will no longer see online ads, but rather that these ads will no longer appear in your “Favorites” and “Interests” sections, which are based on your browsing behavior.
Examples of important uses of cookies (that do not require account authentication):
- Content and services tailored to user preferences – product and service categories.
- Offers tailored to the user’s preferences – password storage.
- Saving the child protection filters for online content (Family Mode option, Safe Search feature).
- Limiting the frequency of ad display—restricting the number of times a particular ad is shown to a specific user on the site.
- Delivering ads that would be of interest to the user.
- Measurement, optimization, and analytics metrics—how to verify a given level of website traffic, what type of content is being viewed, and how users arrive at a given website (e.g., search engines, direct traffic, other websites, etc.). Websites develop these analytics and use them to improve the site for the benefit of users.
SECURITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY
Cookies are NOT viruses! They are in plain text format. They are not composed of code, so they cannot be executed and cannot run on their own. Therefore, they cannot be duplicated or copied to other networks to run or replicate themselves. Since they cannot perform these functions, they cannot be considered viruses.
Cookies can, however, be used for malicious purposes. Since they store information about user preferences and browsing history—both on a specific website and on most other websites—cookies can be used as a form of spyware. Many anti-spyware programs are unaware of this fact and consistently flag cookies for removal during removal, scanning, antivirus, and anti-spyware procedures.
Browsers typically have built-in privacy settings that allow users to choose different levels of cookie acceptance, set expiration periods, and enable automatic deletion after the user has visited a particular website.
Other security aspects related to cookies:
Since the protection of personal data is extremely important and constitutes a right of every Internet user, it is recommended that you be aware of the potential problems that cookies may cause. Cookies enable a constant, two-way exchange of information between the browser and the website; and if a hacker or other unauthorized person interferes while the data is being transmitted, the information containing cookies could be intercepted.
In rare cases, this can happen if the browser connects to the server using an unencrypted network (e.g., an unsecured wireless network without a password).
Another type of cookie-based attack requires incorrect cookie settings on the server. If a website does not require the browser to use only encrypted channels, hackers can exploit this vulnerability to trick browsers into sending information over unprotected channels. Hackers then use this information to gain unauthorized access to certain websites. It is very important to be careful when choosing the most appropriate protection for your personal data.
TIPS FOR SAFE AND RESPONSIBLE BROWSING BASED ON COOKIES
Thanks to their flexibility and the fact that most of the most-visited and largest websites use cookies, they are almost unavoidable.
Disabling cookies will prevent users from accessing the most popular and widely used websites, including YouTube, Gmail, Yahoo, and others.
All modern browsers allow you to change your cookie settings. These settings are usually found in the “Options” or “Preferences” menu of your browser, where you can customize how cookies are used in your browser.
PERIODS FOR WHICH WE STORE COOKIE DATA
Please review our Privacy Policy, in which we have provided a comprehensive overview of the retention periods for data collected through cookies and similar technologies.
CONTACT US
DATA PROTECTION OFFICER
You may submit questions and requests regarding the exercise of your personal data protection rights to us via the contact form available on the Website or through any of the contact forms listed below:
“Travel Books” Ltd., UIC 203279952, VAT No. BG 203279952, with its registered office and Registered office: Sofia, 12 Georgi Bakalov St., Contact phone numbers: +359 877 571558, +359 876 697 669
Data Protection Officer
Mailing Address: Sofia, 23A Lyulyakova Gradina St.,
; Contact Phone: +359 877 571558,
; Email: info@travelbooks.bg
