Minister Angelkova: We present a project for 12 wine and culinary destinations to the tourist and agriculture industries

We present an idea for 12 wine and culinary destinations, part of the project “Share about Bulgaria”, which is developed jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. This was announced by the Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova who together with Minister Rumen Porozhanov officially presented the destinations to the tourist and agriculture industries.  The Deputy Minister of Tourism Irena Georgieva and Krasimir Koev, Executive Director of the Vine and Wine Executive Agency also took part in the presentation. For the development of the project we chose to present 12 wine and culinary destinations and this is not by chance because they correspond to the months of the year, Minister Angelkova said. She specified that that they include both traditional wines and typical cuisine for the region in combination with about 50 municipalities and about 100 tourist sites.  She also commented that it is important to incorporate wine and cuisine in the country’s tourist product as they are part of the overall experience of the tourists.

The 12 wine and culinary destinations we present today are not final and they are the basis on which to discuss until completion of the final project, the Minister said. The information will be published on the official website of the Ministry of Tourism so that everyone who wishes to familiarise with them could give an opinion or suggestion, within the period of their discussion.

The next stage of the project will be to discuss the destinations with the tourist industry.  6 round tables in the country are being prepared to present the destinations in detail to the local businesses, organizations and municipalities. We expect to receive detailed opinions from businesses and to supplement and elaborate our proposals, Minister Angelkova stated. She also added that the final wine and culinary destinations are to be announced in mid-2018.  After that they will be digitalized and uploaded on the website of the Ministry.  We have an idea to include them in the future in the platform “I loveBulgaria”, which was created last year and advertises the 100 national tourist sites, the Minister said.

The initiative “Share about Bulgaria” could help develop and promote so-called slow tourism, Minister Angelkova said.  She specified that its concept involves preservation of traditions and culture, focusing on local food and regional customs.  In her words, they could keep tourists informed about traditional food and wines in the regions.  

By facilitating municipalities to promote the new wine and culinary destinations we expect more tourists to head for the interior of the country. This will contribute to reinforcing Bulgaria as a four-season destination and will have a positive impact on the development of many municipalities not only in terms of their tourism but also to impact the economy of the country, the Minister stated.

We expect the initiative to foster the development of the season wings, Minister Angelkova informed.  In her words, figures on this year show that the excellent performance of the past year will be exceeded. For the first eight months  of 2017 the total  number of visits  of foreign tourists  to Bulgaria  is over 6.5 million  and  the growth on the period  January-August  2016  is  about 8%.

In the high summer season the total number of visits of foreign tourists exceeds 4.3 million, marking an increase of 5.6% as compared with the same period a year ago.  The Ministry’s forecast is for the period June-September this year the total number of foreign tourists to reach about 5.3 million, up by 6 per cent on the same months of past year, Minister Angelkova announced.  She specified that the final data will be available at the end of the week, to be released by the National Statistical Institute (NSI).

Receipts from international tourism are growing even faster, the BNB information shows, Minister Angelkova said.  In her view, in the period January–August revenues from international tourism amount to BGN 5.2 billion, marking a growth of some 10% on the same period last year.  Only in the summer months from June to August the revenues account for BGN 3.7 billion, marking an increase of 8 per cent compared with the same months of the last year.

Wine and culinary destinations will be also very important for Bulgarian producers, Rumen Porozhanov, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry said. He commented that we have unique local wines which will reach more consumers, including foreigners.  He added that we have wine production traditions which are thousands of years old and wine production is developing as a modern industry and many wine houses and testing centers are built near tourist attractions.  This is a prerequisite for packing them in a common product. Minister Porozhanov announced that Bulgaria has registered 54 wines with protected indications on European level, which ranks it 8^th in the EU by products with protected indications and this is consistent with its competitiveness and access to new markets.

The event was attended by a delegation from the Chinese region of Shansi which came to Bulgaria to meet with Bulgarian travel companies.