Minister Angelkova holds work meeting with Jose Santos, Argentina’s tourism minister

The Minister of Tourism, Nikolina Angelkova, held a work meeting with Jose Santos, Republic of Argentina’s Minister of Tourism. The two conversed during the international exposition FITUR in Madrid, wherein Bulgaria took part with an info stand. Minister Angelkova presented to her counterpart the sector results for the past year, as well as the institution’s upcoming initiatives during Bulgaria’s presidency of the EU Council, as well as the more significant events until the year’s end.

Coming in slightly more than a month is the first large-scale event organized by the Ministry within the framework of Bulgaria’s presidency of the EU Council, said Minister Angelkova, detailing that it will be a meeting of tourism ministers, which is dedicated to tourism and digitalization. The Ministry of Tourism will be involved with a total of 6 events in the presidency calendar, two of these being at summit level. We are also preparing the second edition of the International Congress on World Civilizations and Ancient Routes, which will be held in mid-November in Sofia, the Minister explained further, adding that the event will be held jointly with the UN World Tourism Organization.

During the meeting the two ministers discussed the opportunities for joint initiatives to support development of tourism in their countries. Republic of Bulgaria’s Ministry of Tourism and Republic of Argentina’s Minister of Tourism also signed a Memorandum of Understanding in tourism in 2016. The potential cooperation areas for the two countries are development of tourism products and exchange of information and best practices.

Minister Santos stated his preparedness for cooperation, as well as support for the implementation of joint initiatives going forward, expressing hope that partnership between the two countries will be developing ever more successfully, which would help the sustainable development of tourism in Bulgaria and Argentina. It was made clear during the discussion that Minister Angelkova will take part in the tourism-related topics during the G20 meeting, which will be held in Argentina this year, in April.

Argentinian tourists coming to Bulgaria during the January-November period 2017 are several thousand, growing by over 40 per cent compared to the previous year’s same period.