Opening speech by Minister Nikolina Angelkova on the occasion of the World Tourism Day - 27 September

27 September 2016

Dear colleagues and partners,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Allow me to congratulate you on the occasion of the World Tourism Day - 27 September!

This is the UN's date of calendar, which symbolically unites the people of the world involved in this difficult and exciting profession, together with institutions, entrepreneurs and millions of users of the tourist services.

The 2016 tourism holiday is titled “Tourism for all” and the aim of the UN is to focus the attention on the universal accessibility of the services in this sector. In the last 50 years we have seen a genuine revolution of global tourism, as the World Tourism Organization has noted. In 1950 there were only 25 million foreign tourists in the world and today they are about 1.2 billion. But the numbers are not the most important aspect. Journeys have become an essential part of our lives. When we travel, we meet new people and come into contact with natural phenomena, ideas, spiritual values and many other aspects of life. This motivates us to continuously increase our criteria, to build on the achieved results and to make the best of the human right of movement and travel.

Tourism is an important fundamental sector of the economy of our country. Today it is facing new challenges. I am convinced that thanks to the high professionalism of all of you, they will not withhold us from helping people travel more often and more easily. Our professional obligation is to create equal conditions for all who want to experience the benefits of tourism.

I would like to use the opportunity and address the thousands of people employed in the sector. Dear colleagues, stay healthy and tireless, because the image of Bulgaria as a year-round tourist destination depends on our joint work! I would like to congratulate those of you, whose efforts have a contribution to the development of tourism in our country and to thank them for the cooperation!

Enjoy your holiday!

Nikolina Angelkova

Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Bulgaria

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