Minister Nikolina Angelkova held a work meeting with Michael Frenzel, Honorary Chair of the Global Tourism & Economy Forum

The Minister of Tourism, Nikolina Angelkova, held a work meeting with Michael Frenzel, Honorary Chair of the Global Tourism & Economy Forum (GТEF). They conversed during the summit meeting of the World Travel and Tourism Council, which is held in Buenos Aires. The two discussed the opportunities for joint initiatives in tourism to expand travel from China to Bulgaria.

Minister Angelkova presented to Michael Frenzel the projects that the country is working on, one of them being the preparation of the 2^nd edition of the International Congress on World Civilizations and Ancient Routes, which will be held in mid-November in Sofia. The forum is jointly organized by the Ministry of Tourism and UN’s World Tourism Organization. The Bulgarian government and the Ministry of Tourism are consistently implementing a policy to establish the country as a four-season destination, stated the minister, explaining further that hard work is going on to achieve sustainable, year-on-year growth in tourism.

China is among the major markets for Europe, especially in the tourism sector. This year, the Old Continent’s focus is on the 2018 – EU-China Tourism Year initiative. Over 12.4 mil. tourism visits from China were reported in the European countries in 2017, a 17% growth compared to 2016. Over 180 mil. Chinese are traveling the worlds.

Development of joint products and routes with Greece, Serbia, and Croatia was also discussed during the meeting, with the intention of attracting tourists from remote markets, such as China. Ways to encourage Chinese investments in Bulgaria were also discussed, which in turn be a premise for attracting even more tourists.