Minister Angelkova: We expect a rate of 11 million tourists by the end of this year

Tourism is one of the sectors with the greatest demand for trained specialists and the rates of this year together with the bookings for the next year confirm that the upward trend will continue. Therefore the schools and universities play a key role and are a determinant for the competitive development of the branch. This was said by Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova during the celebrations of the Day of the Leaders of the Bulgarian National Revival in the University of Ruse. The celebration coincides with the Rector Prof. Velizara Pencheva’s 60^th birthday anniversary and was attended by the Mayor of Ruse Municipality Plamen Stoilov, the members of parliament Plamen Nunev and Svetlana Angelova, the Chairman of the Municipal Council Prof. Hristo Beloev, the Governor Stefko Burdzhiev etc.

In response to a question posed by a journalist, Minister Angelkova said that by the end of the year, the number of Bulgarian and foreign tourists is expected to exceed 11 million. “The results are felt all over the country and especially in tourism-oriented municipalities such as Ruse”, she stressed. According to her words, in the first eight months of 2016, the tourists (foreigners and Bulgarians), who stayed overnight in the Ruse region, amount to nearly 61 thousand people. This is a growth of 7.6% compared to the same period last year. From January to August the number of overnights in the region is almost 100 thousand, which is a growth of 10%. The revenue is almost reaching 5 million BGN.

“It is no coincidence that we have selected Ruse to become the coordination centre for the tourism projects of all 14 countries of the Danube region”, added the minister of tourism. She explained that a Bulgarian-Romanian Technical Secretariat was created on Priority Axis 3 of the Danube strategy. Bulgaria and Romania are joint coordinators in the field of tourism and culture, and the unit providing assistance to tourism and culture activities for the entire Danube region is situated in Ruse.

“We have prepared three projects in the total amount of over 3 million Euro for tourism initiatives under the “Danube” Programme. We have also applied with a project for the development of common tourist projects for distant markets under INTERREG V”, announced Nikolina Angelkova. Later on the same day these and other proposals will be discussed at a working meeting with representatives of “Ruse Art” Municipal Enterprise (“Tourism” department), the joint secretariat under Priority Axis 3 of the EU Strategy for the Danube region and the Association of the Danubian Municipalities “Danube”, in which the Minister of Tourism will take part.