Minister Angelkova met the National Endowment for Democracy leadership in Washington

Minister Nikolina Angelkova met the leadership of the National Endowment for Democracy - NED in Washington during her work visit to Washington. The presented our country’s potential as a tourism destination and outlined topical matters in its democratic development. „At the year’s start our country took over the presidency of the EU Council and is fulfilling the responsible mission of proposing important solutions for the future of the Union and millions of people. It is a big opportunity to draw attention to the region and the country as a year-round tourism destination“, stated Minister Angelkova.

She explained that the one of the key highlights is the Western Balkans’ economic and political integration, which is a crucial shared priority for the member-states. In the past the region was a hotbed for conflicts, but it is now a place of increasingly active partnership and understanding. In tourism such integration is a fact by virtue of the planning of projects for common itineraries and services to shared markets, it was made clear by the minister.

Bulgaria has very good economic relations with Turkey – our southern neighbour is a strategic tourism partner. Last year in ranked 4^th in incoming tourism to Bulgaria, generating a nearly 13% growth in visits, compared to 2016.

Minister Angelkova drew attention to the fact that Bulgaria is also very attractive to foreign investors as an outsourcing destination. We are also proud to have very fast internet. There is a growing number of large-scale hotel chains wishing to invest in high-category tourism facilities in the capital city Sofia and along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

The Bulgarian minister also presented to the NED representatives the sustainable results in the sector, which Bulgaria has achieved in recent years. In 2017 international tourist visits to our country stood at nearly 8.9 mil., a historical record for the sector and way more than the country’s own populace. The 2017 revenues from international tourism were some BGN 6.9 bil. a 9,3 per cent growth, compared to 2016.

We are working actively to promote Bulgaria as an attractive destination for summer-, winter-, and specialized tourism, including on remote markets, USA being among these. Last autumn we had a successful outdoor promotional campaign in some of the biggest US cities, with the visible outputs from the marketing activities being that US tourists coming to Bulgaria in 2017 were nearly 88 000, a circa 10% growth, compared to 2016, placing the US among the top 20 countries for our incoming tourism, added Minister Angelkova.

NED is a non-profit foundation established in 1983 and dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world. Each year the foundation is giving away over 1 600 grants to overseas NGO”s working for democratic goals in over 90.