Minister Angelkova spoke with Her Excellency Donika Hodzha, Ambassador of Albania to Bulgaria

09 July 2019

The Minister of Tourism held a workmeeting with Her Excellency Donika Hodzha, Ambassador of Albania to the Republic of Bulgaria. Both united around the idea that offering the Balkans as a common tourist destination to attract tourists from the prospectous Asian markets has a strong potential for development and to increase tourists to both countries.

Minister Angelkova pointed out that the Balkan Route project proposed by the Ministry of Tourism during our presidency of the Council of the EU has a strong support of other countries in the region.  The experts are working on selecting sites to be included in the general route. In the pilot version of the common route these will be sites under the auspices of UNESCO in the respective country, the Bulgarian Minister commented. The number of Albanian visits to Bulgaria has increased significantly in recent years. For the first 5 months of 2019, Bulgaria reports about 15 thousand visits from Albania, Minister Angelkova said, adding that last year their number was over 37 thousand, with growth of over 10%.

She introduced her interlocutor to the results of the International Investment Forum in Sunny Beach, held at the end of May, attended by representatives of the world tourist, aviation and financial business. It is important for us through the development of congress and business tourism to expand the wings of the main winter and summer season, which will allow the rich material base in the Bulgarian national resorts to be used throughout the year for business forums, said Minister Angelkova. 

Tourism development is also a priority for Albania, said Her Excellency Donika Hodzha, efforts are focused on attracting high-class hotels to the country. We see a great potential for tourism cooperation with Bulgaria, said the ambassador.

The meeting discussed the possibility of organizing a tourism forum in Tirana at the end of the year where tour operators from both countries could held B2B meetings, and the institutions of the two countries responsible for the development of the sector - the Ministry of Tourism of Bulgaria and the Ministry of Tourism and the Environment of Albania, to discuss initiatives to boost tourist flows between the two countries, and joint initiatives to boost the interest of the region to long-distance tourists.

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