Minister Angelkova: About 1 million Germans have visited Bulgaria in 2014

06 March 2015
Minister Angelkova: About 1 million Germans have visited Bulgaria in 2014

About 1 million Germans have visited our country and over 700 000 of them have done so for tourism purposes. This statement was made by the Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova at a press conference during one of the biggest international tourist exhibits, ITB Berlin 2015.  The Deputy Minister Nadya Marinova and Bulgaria’s ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany Radi Naidenov also attended the event.

“Bulgaria ranks second in Europe in biodiversity and is among the three countries on the Old Continent with the greatest number of discovered archeological artifacts”, said Minister Angelkova. According to the Minister this offers great possibilities for tourism – cultural, eco, seaside, SPA, winter, etc. Bulgaria is a well-known destination for German tourists and most of them associate the country with summer and the sunny seaside. The Ministry of Tourism is therefore working towards presenting other possibilities for tourism, with a special focus on cultural and historical tourism. A massive advertising campaign on the German market was also realized. It included 39 tourist website, 9 TV channels with 406 broadcasts (including RTL 2, SKY, TELE 5, Sport 1 and others), 36 promotional materials in the Berlin metro and 11 print editions  (including Reise & Preise; Freizeit Spass and others.). The campaign is under Operational Programme “Regional Development“ 2007-2013. “In January 2015 we’ve registered a growth of about  45% of German citizens in our country compared to the same period from the previous year which indicates that Germans are becoming more familiar with the possibilities for tourism in Bulgaria outside the summer season”, noted Nikolina Angelkova.

During ITB Berlin Minister Angelkova initiated a meeting with representatives of Thomas Cook – Karl Schattmaier, executive manager; Andre Müllmann, commercial director and Alex Werde, official authorized agent for Bulgaria. Possibilities for extending the cooperation and attracting more tourists to Bulgaria through the developed network of Thomas Cook.  The tour operator covers the whole of Europe and Great Britain where most of Bulgaria’s target markets are located. According to the representatives of Thomas Cook, the quality of the tourist product is a major precondition for increasing the tourist flow.

“We’re working for the creation of a fund or some other financial mechanism through which we could invest part of the revenues from tourism into improving the infrastructure and the tourist attractions”, said Minister Angelkova. She said that different options will be probed for increasing the qualification in those involved in the tourism sector – university courses and other additional trainings. Minister Angelkova invited the representatives of Thomas Cook to take part in the b2b forum which the Ministry of Tourism will organize this spring in Sofia. .

Minister Nikolina Angelkova also held a talk with the BBC account manager for Central and South Eastern Europe Daniel Moravanszky to discuss the planned signing of the contract with the media. “I’m glad that we’ve reached the final stage of the negotiations and shortly we’ll be able to launch the promotion of Bulgaria on BBC”, said the Bulgarian Minister. The two parties agreed that work has been speeded up within very short notice and that some formalities remain before the contract is signed.

Minister Angelkova also took part in the fifth meeting of the Ministers of the member countries in the Silk Road Programme of the World Tourism Organization. During the forum, the Bulgarian Minister held meetings with Darko Lorencin, Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Croatia and Abdulaziz Kamilov, the Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan. The three of them discussed possibilities for extending their cooperation in the tourism sector and undertaking coordinated efforts for increasing the tourist exchange.  

Minister Angelkova was invited as a lecturer during the meeting “Europe as a Tourist Destination“, organized by the European Commission and the European Travel Commission. The Bulgarian Minister held an individual meeting with Pedro Ortún, director general of the Enterprise and Industry Directorate to discuss possibilities for extending cooperation on EU level in tourism as well as for investments in the sector.  

Minister Angelkova met with the Secretary General of the German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ) Hans-Joachim Fuchtel to discuss possibilities for extending cooperation and for exchanging experience in marketing that could be applied in the setting up of the regional centers in each tourist region of Bulgaria. The idea for the regional division of the country into 9 regions is to be approved shortly and the creation of organizations for their management will be launched. The mayors of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg also attended the meeting.

This is the 48th edition of the international tourism exhibition ITB Berlin which is taking place 4th-8th March is one of the most prestigious events for the tourist industry with over 11 000 exhibitors, 113 000 professionals of 180 countries. Bulgaria is participating with a national stand of  456 sq.m. where over 50 tourist companies and organizations are featured together with the Ministry of Tourism.

 

 

 

 

 

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