Minister Angelkova talks with the Club of Young Professionals and the Bulgarian community in Washington

23 February 2018

Bulgaria’s popularity as a destination is growing all the time, each year it is increasingly visited by international tourists. This was stated by the Minister of Tourism, Nikolina Angelkova, during a meeting with representatives of the Club of Young Professionals and the Bulgarian community in Washington, D.C. The minister added that the encouraging 2017 stats are indicative in that international tourist visits last year exceeded 8.882 mil., growing by 7.6%, compared to the year before. An even bigger growth of 9.3 per cent is registered in the revenues from international tourism. In 2017 the total revenues in the sector stood at BGN 6.895 bil. according to BNB (Bulgarian National Bank) data. Over the past 2 years the average annual growth in tourist visits to our country was 12%, compared to circa 7 per cent EU-wide for the same period, indicated Minister Angelkova.

She stated that now there is work going on under two projects, which are expected to draw more tourists to the country’s interior and increase tourist visits during the windows between the active summer and winter seasons. The Ministry of Tourism is developing spa and medical spa destinations, with the concept project covering 7 directions, country-wide. For the purpose of engaging a broad range of stakeholders in the development of destinations, opinions were requested from 50 municipalities, which provided the basis for creating the destinations.

Bulgaria’s Ministry of Tourism, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Forests, is also setting up 12 wine-gourmet destinations, the minister announced further, explaining that these include both traditional wine beverages and cuisine typical of the respective region, as well as nearly 50 municipalities and some 100 tourism sites. The number is not accidental as well, it was chosen to match the number of months in a year.

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