Ministry of Tourism experts inspect the condition of child bases along the Black Sea coast

In the midst of the summer season the Minister of Tourism, Nikolina Angelkova, ordered the Ministry experts to hold in situ meetings and inspect the conditions at recreation bases for children along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. This is done to ensure proper conditions for this type of rest and earmark measures for asserting our country as one of the most preferred tourism destinations for child recreation in the region.

The recreation conditions at over 20 large-scale bases visited are good and meet the requirements, the Ministry of Tourism representatives found. These take up large areas enabling diverse sporting and creative activities. The zones are properly separated and guarded by skilled individuals, who, apart from their security commitments, also have control-admission functions. There is one nominated steward per 10-15 children. All bases visited feature medical centres/points, with a full-time physician, while some have their own emergency aid vehicles. The beach strip is used as per contract with the relevant beach concessionaire, with dedicated rescuers being provided for the children.

In situ meetings are part of the Ministry of Tourism’s work in elaborating details of the criteria to be met by child recreation facilities according to national and international standards. One of the issues in this segment is that more and more hotels are starting to accommodate organized groups of adolescents but some of them have not made sufficient investments in order for their service to be fully compliant with the new requirements. The Ministry of Tourism will therefore initiate discussion among representatives of all child recreation bases and the stakeholder institutions and organizations. During the debates there will be discussion about the proposed legislative provisions regulating a framework of the minimum requirements to the conduct of such business and control thereon. Based on such requirements, a list of bases compliant with the terms will be prepared.

Development of organized child tourism is an important segment of the country’s national tourism product. Bulgaria has for decades been constructing and developing child recreation bases and is known internationally as a very serene and hospitable place for adolescent recreation, particularly for children from Russia, ex-USSR countries, and Central Europe. This product, however, requires more active promotion in order to establish Bulgaria’s image as a preferred destination for this age category of tourists, representatives of tourism businesses indicated during the meetings. Their opinion will be factored in when the next steps towards development of organized child recreation in our country are taken.