Building partnerships between tourism and modern industries has been discussed in the framework of the third panel of the International Congress of the WTO and the Ministry of Tourism

Building partnerships between tourism and modern industries was discussed in the framework of the third panel of the International Congress on World Civilizations and Creative Tourism. The forum was organized jointly by the World Tourism Organization and the Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism and our country is the host of the event.

Creative tourism is the cooperation between the cultural tourism and the creative industries. It also launches a change in the management of this industry. To achieve sustainability of the creative tourism, particular attention should be paid to local communities, because they are the bearers of knowledge. The local people are not only the guardians of the heritage, they are the heritage. This was said by Caroline Kuret, creator of the network for creative tourism in Spain, in her presentation.

It emphasized on the fact that there is a new situation in the tourist industry, which should be taken into consideration by all parties involved - the creative tourist does not perceive himself as a tourist, but rather as a traveler, who wants to be included in the emotional experience of the local culture. This is why a new product is needed, combining the tourist activity with the authenticity. This could be achieved by specialized culinary training courses, musical performances etc. Another thing to take into consideration is the option for the tourists to choose the destination according to their ability to practice a certain activity or hobby there, she said.

The Ambassador of Georgia in Spain and Permanent Representative in the World Tourism Organization Zurab Polikashvili presented a project about his country “Check in Georgia”, where one of his major objectives was to restart the popularization of the traditional Georgian folklore. He pointed out that through the concerts, festivals, performances, showing the authentic traditional customs and lifestyle, they managed to achieve cooperation between the creative industries and tourism. This is one of the most important conditions for the conservation of the cultural and historical heritage, he stated. Polikashvili also commented that the extension of the tourist season is another major task of Georgia. In this connection he emphasized that thousands of people visit different organized events outside the season and this is one of the ways to achieve that goal.

Large groups of foreign tourists are brought by small tourist companies to observe ceremonies and rituals in the Thracian sacred sites, said Prof. Valeria Fol while revealing the secrets of the Thracian heritage. She added that many of these sites have not yet been adapted for practicing creative tourism.

Dr. Diana Gergova from the Institute for Balkan Studies with a Center of Thracian Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences recalled that the successful conservation of the national heritage should involve several components - continuation of the archaeological studies, development of the types of tourism - cultural-historical and creative, extension of the tourist season and most of all – dissemination of the new knowledge about the Thracian and Balkan culture. She announced that in 2007 two more tombs will be uncovered on the territory of the Municipality of Kazanlak.