Deputy Minister Irena Georgieva participates in the 104rd meeting of the Board of Directors of the European Travel Commission

20 May 2022
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Deputy Minister of Tourism Irena Georgieva participates in the 104rd meeting of the Board of Directors of the European Travel Commission (ETC) The event took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia. As part of the Board of Directors, with a mandate until the end of 2023, Bulgaria will take part in solving important subject-matters, issues and problems for the industry, accepting new members, approving the action program and the budget.

The main topic of discussion during the meeting was the state of the tourism sector in Europe and the risks for its restart after the pandemic. Deputy Minister Georgieva pointed out that the efforts of the Ministry of Tourism and the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria are aimed at using all opportunities to preserve the tourism sector in an emergency epidemic situation and its recovery after Covid-19. The Ministry is in constant contact with all stakeholders to achieve cooperation between institutions and business to restore Bulgarian tourism.

The topic of short-term rentals and platforms was discussed during the general meeting of the member states. Discussions are underway to standardize the measures and vote on a unified legal position on the legalization of this type of accommodation. Bulgaria is among the few Member States that already have a law on short-term rentals. Deputy Minister Georgieva presented a summary of the law to be used as a basis for future uniform regulation in the European Union.

The event took place before the summer, which will be critical to the recovery of the European tourism sector after the pandemic. According to the ETC survey, there is optimism in the expectations of the travel sector as 77% of Europeans have travel plans between April and September 2022. Over half (56%) of them plan to visit another European country, while 31% opt for domestic travel.

Despite the optimistic prospects for tourism recovery in the upcoming summer, the new challenges facing Europe’s tourism sector, including global inflation and the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian military conflict, cannot be ignored. ETC has committed itself to widely promoting the most affected destinations in the conflict in Ukraine in order to attract tourists, with the message of restoring travel and the normal rhythm of life.

On the agenda was the ETC's Industry Forum on Sustainable Tourism. Participants agreed that the implementation of sustainable practices in tourism should remain a key focus in the sector amid the current crises. Deputy Minister Georgieva stressed that Bulgaria seeks not only to restore maritime and ski tourism, but also to develop mountain, eco, rural, nature and other forms of tourism. The main advantage of mountain, eco, rural and nature tourism is that they are not associated with a concentration of tourists in one place and are environmentally friendly.

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