The National Tourist Information Center is already in the National Palace of Culture

„As of today, the National Tourist Information Center (NTIC) at the Ministry of Tourism has a new home. Information about the opportunities for different types of tourism in Bulgaria is now in a much more accessible, communicative, recognizable and favorite place in Sofia - the National Palace of Culture (NPC)”. This was said at the opening of the center by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism Mariana Nikolova. She thanked the management of the National Palace of Culture for the implementation of the joint initiative.

For his part, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Palace of Culture Borislav Velkov stressed that the Ministry of Tourism and the National Palace of Culture share a common vision for the development of modern tourism and large congress and cultural centers as an integral part of it. “Modern tourism is integrated, and the National Palace of Culture in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism and as part of the Bulgarian Congress Bureau and the Confederation of Tourism can count on the joint efforts of the sector and institutions to attract major global congress initiatives in Sofia. At the same time, the National Palace of Culture gets the opportunity to position itself as one of the main congress destinations in Sofia and the region, to develop its international activity much more actively and to advertise events from its programme”, said Borislav Velkov.

„The National Palace of Culture is the largest cultural center in our country and it can be said that we managed to move tourist information to people where they like to walk and would look for it. And the National Palace of Culture and the space around it are the heart of our capital”, Mariana Nikolova also commented. 

According to her, the opening of the center is just in time, two weeks before the official start of the tourist season on May 1^st, 2020.

“With the offered information we will contribute to the popularization of the various tourist product that Bulgaria offers”, said the Deputy Prime Minister. Shee pointed out that its opening is another implemented initiative, for which a commitment was made to the sector in August last year. The center will support the implementation of the advertising strategy of the Ministry of Tourism and will establish our country as a year-round destination offering high quality services. The space will be upgraded and developed jointly between the two institutions through joint initiatives.

“Bulgaria has a huge potential in the development of congress, festival, cultural and concert tourism and with the overcoming of the pandemic, life in the National Palace of Culture will return”, she is convinced.

NTIC is located at Entrance A4 of the National Palace of Culture, which was renovated for the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU. The National Tourist Information Center is expected to perform three main functions. The first is to provide in a modern way information for Bulgarian tourists; to provide attractive and diverse information for foreign tourists, and to have an entertainment function - an opportunity to create visitor experiences through modern digital technologies and other modern activities.

From today in NTIC, on specially developed two touch screen platforms, visitors have the opportunity to get acquainted with attractive videos and other advertising formats for specialized types of tourism, such as eco, adventure, SPA, golf, the so-called slow tourism, wine and culinary, pilgrimage, etc. There are also video materials that present the measures taken for safe holidays of foreign and Bulgarian guests in the country, as well as to find other useful information for their stay. The NTIC can also host various types of promotional events advertising various tourist products and services.

Until now, NTIC was located on a small and quiet street in the capital, but remained away from the tourist flow.