Bulgaria presented at 100 international tourism exhibitions over the past 2 years

Over the past 2 years Bulgaria has been presented at 100 international tourism exhibitions. This was announced by the Minister of Tourism, Nikolina Angelkova, in the morning news show of Focus Radio, citing her Ministry’s Report on Operations for the period of 7 November 2014 – 7 November 2016. A summary of the report is published on the institution’s website and is available to anyone interested.

„As soon as we established the standalone Ministry of Tourism, one of the major priorities was to change the way of advertising Bulgaria as a tourism destination“, Minister Angelkova stressed. As a result of the government institution’s purposeful actions, the country’s marketing strategy was planned and discussed with businesses in the industry half a year prior to implementation. „Owing to this, our summer tourism product is advertised during winter, with the winter product being advertised during summer, as is the case in all advanced countries“, Nikolina Angelkova added. A new, uniform vision was established for all advertising stands used to present Bulgaria at international tourism forums.

„Bulgaria’s advertising in 2015 was targeted and pinpointed. The main activities were the direct forms of advertising – partnership with tour operators, online marketing, and participation in forums and exchanges. The results are there to see in 2016 – Bulgaria is now seeing off its best ever summer season and we expect to exceed the number of 8 mil. international tourists until the year’s end“, the Minister of Tourism said further. The report also publishes data from the National Statistical Institute, which reveal that during the period of April–September the country welcomed over 5 mil. international tourists and nearly 7 mil. for the entire period up to September.

The document states further that a large scale advertising campaign was carried out on Eurosport, Euronews, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic, with Bulgaria having been presented on CNN as an attractive tourism destination. It is also reported that the country is being positioned as a destination for higher-end tourists. One of the world’s biggest hotel chains, Hyatt, is entering Bulgaria with a high-category hotel in Sofia’s central area. Interest has also been registered by other large-scale chains, such as Four Seasons, Jumeira, and others. Less than a month ago the Saudi Arabia prince Sultan al Saud visited our country to explore the investment opportunities.

Apart from the increased number of international and Bulgarian tourists, efforts to attract more investments in the sector are also recognized. The Ministry of Tourism has elaborated an investment map for tourism. The purpose is to put together all crucial projects in the sector in order to present them to would-be investors..

In the course of less than 24 months steps were taken to promote public-private partnership in the tourism sector. An advertising video was created featuring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars sharing their personal impressions from Bulgaria. The document also announces that agreements have been signed with international companies based on which information centres for the country are now operating in Japan and Saudi Arabia, at no cost to the national budget.

The report offers a reminder that our country was selected to be Vice President of WTO’s 21^st General Assembly and that the holding of the International Congress on World Civilizations and Creative Tourism in Sofia is being jointly prepared with WTO, with tourism ministers and leading scientists from across the globe having been invited.

One result from the Ministry’s policy is that Russe became a coordination centre for tourism projects for all 14 countries in the Danube region. A Bulgarian-Romanian Technical Secretariat was established in the Danubian city under Priority Axis 3 of the Danube Strategy, which covers tourism and culture. The unit supports and coordinates activities in this sphere for the entire region. The Ministry also keeps up its work on the development of cross-border cooperation and creation of joint tourism products. A bilateral Bulgaria - Romania task group was set up and joint projects with Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, and Greece are in the pipeline, the report states.

Ministry of Tourism managed to accomplish one of the strategic objectives it had set in advance – elaborate a statutory framework for the sector’s operation. When the Ministry of Tourism was established none of the ordinances to the Tourism Act was put to paper. It is highlighted that all of the secondary legislation has either been adopted or is undergoing coordination. It includes, inter alia, exceptionally important documents such the ordinance on the categorization of accommodation facilities and dining locations; the ordinance on the spa centre (introducing for the first time a regulation in this sub-sector); the ordinance on ski track safety, etc.

„Steps were taken to deal with the shadow economy in the sector via introduction of an effective control system. Already in place are the amendments to the Tourism Act, which regulate the operation of the Single Tourism Information System (STIS), which will enable the real-time exchange of data via protected channels among the Ministry of Tourism, NRA (the National Revenue Agency), MoI (Ministry of Interior), Municipalities, and hotel reception desks. The sector will thus be brought into the open without violating personal privacy“, the Ministry of Tourism reports further.