Minister Angelkova held a work meeting with the Ambassador of Portugal HE Helena Coutinho

Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova held a work meeting with the Ambassador of Portugal to Bulgaria HE Helena Margarida Rezende de Almeida Coutinho. The two discussed industry co-operation between their countries and agreed on the thesis that there are still many unused opportunities to increase tourist exchanges.  

Minister Angelkova presented the excellent results achieved in the Bulgarian tourism industry in the years after the establishment of the independent department at the end of 2014. Bulgaria offers both opportunities for practicing mass winter and summer tourism, as well as a wide range of specialized services - balneo and SPA, cultural and historical, pilgrimage, congress, eco, rural, adventure and other types of tourism, she stressed.

Last year, more than 16,000 tourist visits of Portuguese citizens were reported in Bulgaria, while Bulgarians made more than 20,000 tourist visits to Portugal.

The two countries implement a tourism agreement signed in 2015 between the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Ministry of Economy of the Portuguese Republic. They also cooperate in tourism training. Our partnership in cultural and historical tourism has very good prospects, said Minister Angelkova and reminded that the institution has developed 8 such popular destinations as soon as it was created. 12 wine and culinary and 7 balneo- and SPA destinations have also been developed to encourage the influx of specialized service users.

HE. Helena Coutinho congratulated Minister Angelkova's team on the achievements in the sustainable growth of the industry and expressed the readiness of the country to promote bilateral relations even more actively.