Athens: Minister Stella Baltova met with Mariana Oleskiv, Chair of the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine

During the forum of the World Tourism Organization in Athens, Minister Stella Baltova met with Mariana Oleskiv, Chairlady the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine. Minister Baltova issued an official invitation to Ms. Mariana Oleskiv, Chairlady of the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine, to visit Bulgaria. The two agreed to hold the meeting in the coming weeks, before mid-July.

Minister Baltova pointed out that Ukraine is an important tourist market and partner for Bulgaria. In 2019, Ukraine ranks 6th of all countries in the number of tourist visits in our country - over 471,000 have visited our country for tourism, which is an increase of 24% compared to 2018 and a kind of peak for the last 10 years .

The Bulgarian Minister pointed out that since 2018 two communication campaigns have been conducted aimed at the Ukraine market, the second still lasting until September 2021.

Minister Baltova and Mariana Oleskiv discussed the start of regular sessions of the joint working group on tourism. Bulgaria can host the first attendance session if the epidemic situation allows, the Bulgarian minister said. If the situation does not allow it, the two agreed that the session will be organized online. The proposal for organizing a bilateral tourist forum in Bulgaria was also renewed.

In a conversation with the chairman of the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine, the situation with the difficult transit of Ukrainian tourists through Romania was also discussed. Earlier, in search of a solution, Minister Baltova also discussed the issue with Romanian Secretary of State for Tourism at the Ministry of Economy Paul Ene.