Minister Angelkova held a working meeting with Wenping Yao, vice president of FOSUN GROUP

The Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova held a working meeting with representatives of the Chinese conglomerate Fosun (FOSUN GROUP). The delegation was headed by Wenping Yao, vice president of FOSUN GROUP. The other company representatives hold senior managerial positions. At this meeting, the minister presented the opportunities for various types of tourism offered by Bulgaria as well as the competitive advantages of investing in our country.

Tourism constitutes approximately 13% of the GDP of the country, which ranks it among the major economic sectors in Bulgaria, explained the Minister. She also stated that of every 100 euros spent in our country, 7,4 has been spent on tourism and based on this indicator, the sector takes one of the top positions and is expected to grow by 40% over the next 10 years. 

Since the establishment of a separate ministry over the last three years, the results have been very good and we can observe a steady rise on an annual basis, said the Minister. She also added that this year, we expect to have an increased number of tourists and the data for the period January-July prove it. During the first seven months of the year 2018, the total number of foreign tourist visits is more than 5,265 million and this number has risen by about 7%. China is one of the markets having the greatest potential for inbound tourism to Bulgaria and it currently ranks thirty-second, with over 15,4 thousand guests, said Minister Angelkova. She also explained that the growth potential of this market is substantial and the ministry is currently developing special marketing campaigns in accordance with the interests of Chinese tourists.

The minister also said that Bulgaria is presently working with 11 Balkan countries on a joint project aimed at attracting visitors from distant countries such as China. She also specified that this was the idea of the Ministry of Tourism and it was proposed and supported at a meeting of the EU ministers entitled “Tourism and Economic Growth”.

The guests commented that tourism is very important for them and Bulgaria is an interesting country for investments. They also said that it has a very rich culture and a compact territory with a lot of places of intetest, which needs to be popularized. Minister Nikolina Angelkova and representatives of the company agreed to cooperate in the future and expressed their willingness to provide each other support for implementing joint initiatives.

The Chinese conglomerate FOSUN GROUP was established in 1992. The company is the second largest shareholder of Thomas Cook and the owner of the chain of hotels and resorts Club Med. It deals with industrial operations, investments, asset management and insurance. It has a lot of subsidiaries in all spheres of business. It has more than 30 global partners worldwide.