The Ministry of Tourism brought together MEPs, experts, and businesses to discuss the future of the sector in the eurozone

Nikolina Brnjac, Andrey Novakov, institutions, and local authorities took part in the strategic discussion

"Tourism is of paramount importance for the country. It creates jobs where other economies cannot." This was stated by Minister Miroslav Borshosh in Razlog during the conference "The Future of Tourism in Bulgaria and Europe - Image, Innovation and Development," organized by the Ministry of Tourism and MEP Andrey Novakov. The event was attended by representatives of the European Parliament, national institutions, local authorities, the tourism business, and the expert community, including MEPs Nikolina Brnjac  and Andrey Novakov, active members of the Committee on Transport and Tourism in the EP, Georgi Dinev, regional governor of Blagoevgrad, Krasimir Gerchev, mayor of Razlog, Desislav Taskov, chair of the Tourism Committee, and Kiril Dobrev, chair of the Transport Committee in parliament.

Leading representatives of the sector also took part in the discussion, including Dr. Siyka Katsarova from the Bulgarian Union of Balneology and SPA Tourism and Dr. Polina Karastoyanova from the National Tourism Board.

The forum emphasized the need to build a sustainable tourism ecosystem through strategic partnerships between European institutions, the Bulgarian state, local authorities, and the industry. "We have changed the way we present Bulgaria as a tourist destination by focusing on the quality and sustainability of Bulgarian tourism products in individual regions. Our main partners are the people on the ground, active mayors who are looking for opportunities to develop the local economy." With these words, the Minister of Tourism opened the forum.

MEP Andrey Novakov welcomed all participants in one of the most important conferences dedicated to tourism today and stated that there is political will and a strategy for the development of the sector in Bulgaria as part of the eurozone. For her part, Nikolina Brnjac  thanked the Minister of Tourism and Andrey Novakov for the opportunity to visit our beautiful country again. She emphasized the exceptional importance of stability in the country, not only for the development of tourism, but especially for the development of tourism, and shared her country's experience as part of the Eurozone in developing tourism strategies, working with regions, and overcoming crises and challenges.

During the conference, Minister Miroslav Borshosh announced that work is also underway on a strategy for the development of national resorts, their status, including legislative changes, so that these resorts can attract greater investment in infrastructure and connectivity—both air and land.

The Minister of Tourism paid special attention to the representatives of the Professional High School of Tourism and the Professional High School of Agricultural Mechanization in Razlog, who, in his words, are the meaning of all these joint efforts aimed at ensuring their successful professional future in Bulgaria.

All conference participants highlighted the benefits of Bulgaria's accession to the eurozone, which is not only an economic process but also an opportunity to build a new identity for our country in a European and global context, bringing more security, stability, flexibility, and more investment to Bulgaria. The minister emphasized that effective tourism management in this new reality will require concerted efforts to achieve inclusive and regionally balanced development, an additional budgetary framework, and the establishment of crisis management mechanisms and better connectivity between countries.

The conference continued with two discussion panels, during which a number of topical issues were raised and both the problems and successes in the tourism sector were discussed. The minister emphasized once again that cooperation with local authorities is a key factor for the sustainable development of the sector. "The future of tourism in Bulgaria and Europe is a shared responsibility. Today's conference showed that this is possible by bringing together representatives of all these levels of government in one place. Behind the words spoken here, you can see how much work has been done in the short time since this government took office. This is total dedication to work with vision and implementation of decisions," Minister Miroslav Borshosh concluded.