Deputy Minister of Tourism Alexander Manolev opens Bulgarian stand at the International Tourism Exhibition EMITT 2016 in Turkey
Deputy Minister of Tourism Alexander Manolev opened the information stand of Bulgaria at one of the largest international fairs for professionals, EMITT 2016, held from January 28 to January 31 in Istanbul.
“Turkey is among the major generating markets for Bulgarian tourism and our Ministry pays particular attention to measures aimed at attracting more Turkish tourists”, said Deputy Minister Manolev in his official address to the hundreds of exhibitors and visitors gathered at the Bulgarian stand on the opening day of EMITT. He underscored that Ministry’s efforts to increase the number of Turkish guests is giving visible results with nearly half a million Turkish tourists having visited Bulgaria in 2015, which represents an increase of almost 14% as compared to 2014.
The Bulgarian stand was the first attended by the Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mahir Unal, during the official opening of the 20th jubilee edition of EMITT. Minister Unal tasted traditional Bulgarian round bread and talked about the possibilities for year-round vacationing in Bulgaria with the participants in the Bulgarian stand - representatives of the business and six Bulgarian municipalities (Mirkovo, Burgas, Varna, Plovdiv, Lyubimets and Devin).
Multimedia presentations of the winter resorts Pamporovo, Bansko and Borovets caught the attention of many international participants in EMITT 2016. The guests showed particular interest in the competitive advantages of our country as one of the six most desirable European destinations for winter tourism, as well as to the promotional offers that our resorts offer to winter tourists.
During the four-day international fair in Istanbul the Ministry of Tourism and the 18 participants in the Bulgarian stand will promote the potential of our country for year-round tourism. Along with the attractive winter packages for Turkish tourists, they will present the opportunities our country offers for practicing cultural and historical, spa, eco and rural tourism. Tasting of Bulgarian wines and authentic specialties of the Bulgarian cuisine and demonstration of old Bulgarian crafts are also provided for the guests of EMITT 2016.
Bulgaria is a traditional participant in EMITT. This year's 20th jubilee edition of the fair brings together more than 4,000 industry representatives from 70 countries and the number of visitors is expected to exceed 128 thousand.
One of our three major winter resorts, Pamporovo, is taking part in the exhibition with its own stand where a snow cannon installation is attracting an ever growing interest among the visitors.