Minister Angelkova meets UAE’s Minister of the Economy

The Minister of Tourism, Nikolina Angelkova, met today the Minister of the Economy of the United Arab Emirates, Sultan bin Saed Al Mansouri. He is on a visit in our country, heading a delegation, which includes representatives of businesses and the government sector.

Minister Angelkova presented Bulgaria’s potential as a tourism destination, highlighting the record-breaking results reported by the sector in 2016. „There is exceptionally good occupancy rate of 4-star and 5-star hotels“, she emphasized, adding that our country can offer very attractive circumstances for developing spa-, cultural, gourmet-, and ecotourism. „Bulgaria regularly participates in the largest Near East international tourism exposition - ATM, which is held annually in Dubai, we are striving to promote this diversity to the Arab tourists“,Nikolina Angelkova added. 

According to Minister Mansouri, some of the biggest hotel chains, such as Rotana and Jumeirah, might show interest in Bulgaria. He added that our country has been known as an attractive destination among Arab tourists from the Persian Gulf and Middle East area going back to the 1970s and 1980s. According to him, there is big potential in family tourism and child travel offers, which Bulgaria can propose. Transport connectivity is crucial in order to promote mutual tourist flow, Minister Mansouri said. He believes it is important that there are two regular flights a week between the two countries and that it is a base on which to grow the number of tourists.