Minister Angelkova at the Carnegie Endowment, USA: Russia, China, and remote markets are very important for Bulgarian tourism

24 February 2018

Minister of Tourism, Nikolina Angelkova, visited the Carnegie Endowment in Washington D.C. as part of her work visit to USA. She talked with Paul Stronski, senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program. His research focuses on the relationship between Russia and neighbouring countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. The program has projects in various areas – tourism, adventure travel, economy, culture, etc.

The Russian market is extremely important for Bulgaria’s incoming tourism, indicated Minister Angelkova. She announced that in 2017 Russia ranked 5th in terms of tourist visits to our country, with some 558 000 visits. At the upcoming international exhibition Intertourmarket in Moscow, which is among the most important ones for our country’s promotion, Bulgaria will be presented with a large stand as an attractive destination for summer, sea, spa & medical spa, cultural-historical, pilgrimage, and other types of tourism. The Bulgarian minister emphasized that 2017 was a record-breaking year for the sector and shared her hopes that the growth in revenues and number of tourists would be surpassed this year as well.

Bulgaria’s 6-month presidency of the EU Council, which started at the turn of the year, will undoubtedly be helpful to this end. It will not only enhance our country’s prestige as an active member state, but will also make it more recognizable as a tourism destination. Bulgaria also has a particularly important role as a middleman in the promotion of the Western Balkans’ integration into European projects and initiatives.

Minister Angelkova emphasized that the institution’s marketing activities bear increasingly noticeable fruit. The 2017 revenues from international tourism in Bulgaria were almost BGN 6,9 bil., a 9.3% growth compared to the previous record-breaking year of 2016.  Conducive to such achievements is also the active communication with large-scale international tour operators, such as TUI, Neckermann, Thomas Cook, Der Turistik, etc. Significant growth was registered on a number of markets – inter alia, Germany with 870 000 tourists (third in the rankings) and over 5% growth, UK with 338 000 visits and 24% growth, Ireland – 31 000 and 22% growth, and many others.

Remote and new markets also matter to us because Bulgaria is still not very popular there as a 4-season destination, said Minister Angelkova. She gave an example with China, which generated over 26 000 tourist visits in 2017, an over 41 per cent hike, compared to 2016. The potential, however, is much greater, therefore we are ready to offer the Asian markets, jointly with other countries in the region, common tourism products, summarized Minister Angelkova.

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