Minister Angelkova takes part in the Conference on Sustainable Development of Tourism in the Danube Region: New Perspectives

The Minister of Tourism, Nikolina Angelkova, took part in the Conference on Sustainable Development of Tourism in the Danube Region: New Perspectives, in Belgrade. „Bulgaria ranks first EU-wide in terms of growth of tourist numbers“, Minister Angelkova said during the high-level panel and highlighted the fact that „the year 2016 was record-breaking one for development of tourism in Bulgaria, with over 8,2 million international tourists visiting our country, a 16% growth compared to 2015“. The event was hosted by Serbia’s Minister of Trade, Tourism, and Telecommunications, Rasim Ljajic and was jointly organized with the World Tourism Organization. The conference is held in Belgrade today and tomorrow and is attended by ministers and heads of Danube region development organizations.

„At the end of the day, tourism is a major factor in maintaining and preserving cultural traditions, such as festivals, customs, crafts, exhibitions, concerts, etc.“, the Bulgarian Minister of Tourism summarized. She stated that the Danube region countries, Bulgaria included, have wonderful opportunities to protect and conserve their natural resources by setting up parks and reserves.

It was also made clear that as coordinator under priority axis 3 of the Danube Strategy, in the area of culture and tourism, Bulgaria implements joint projects with Romania, Serbia, Austria, and Germany. „A project was applied for under the transnational Danube Program to set up tourist observatories along the Danube, the goal being to implement uniform tourism stats for the Danube region“, Nikolina Angelkova stated. According to her, creation of joint tourism products by countries within the Danube region should be prioritized because this is crucial in attracting visitors from China, Japan, South Korea and others.

In her opinion, the tourism-generated revenues in some Bulgarian municipalities are sufficiently high so that those municipalities opt for that path of development, instead of other industries. Minister Angelkova added in that context that steering organizations are in the process of being set up in the tourism regions, where local governments, the central government, businesses, and NGO’s will cooperate.

The Bulgarian Minister of Tourism emphasized that it is particularly important for the development of tourism to unite the efforts of the central government, local governments, representatives of tourism businesses and NGO’s.