Minister Angelkova attends the Todorka’s Sun Ancient Cultures Festival in Vratsa

Overnight stays in Vratsa have registered a 13% growth for the first five months of 2016, their total number being 34 000 for the entire region’s territory. The region has a lot to show to tourists and event tourism can give a fresh boost to the sector’s development. Thus said the Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova during the opening of the Todorka’s Sun Ancient Cultures Festival, which is was held between 22 - 24 July in the Vologa locality near the village of Ohoden. The event was attended by the Vratsa mayor Kalin Kamenov, the Municipal Council’s chair Rumen Antov, the Regional Governor Malina Nikolova, MP’s, town councillors, etc.

Earlier that day Minister Angelkova visited the Gradishte locality and God’s Bridge. She announced to reporters that the Ministry of Tourism is continuing the bill board campaign to promote domestic tourism, with Vratsa being one of the new cities included in campaign. The bill board campaign was started at the beginning of the year by the Ministry, with 12 large Bulgarian municipalities taking part in it. Local government provided free areas, while the Ministry of Tourism elaborated the visions. Thus, more than 50 tourism sites were advertised country-wide at minimum cost.

According to her, tourism can drive the region’s development. „Unique natural sites are and numerous cultural-historical sites are concentrated here, we need to join efforts to make them more recognizable to both Bulgarian and foreign tourists ”, she emphasized.

The Todorka’s Sun Ancient Cultures Festival aims to preserve North-West’s cultural-historical heritage and promote the Bulgaria-Romani cross-border region as a place of long-standing history and rich traditions. The event is carried out under a project entitled “Danube – I can hear you and will ever forget you, I can see you and will remember you, I can replicate you and understand you” and is funded under the Romania Bulgaria Interreg V-A Program. Art groups, archeologists, and historians from Bulgaria, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, and Albania will take part in the festival’s third edition.