CNN’s Richard Quest presents at WTM-London the clip of Bulgaria that showcases Ministry’s new approach to promoting the country

The 30-second spot with Hollywood stars was the only one shown and discussed in the framework of the Ministerial Meeting.

The promotional clip of Bulgaria, featuring such Hollywood stars as Sylvester Stallone, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas and Adrien Brody, was the only one screened during the ministerial meeting organized by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) in the framework of the largest tourism fair in the world, the World Travel Market (WTM) in London. The 30-second video was presented to over 50 ministers and world leaders in the tourism sector who participated in a discussion moderated by one of the biggest names in world journalism – CNN’s anchor Richard Quest. Among the main topics of the Ministerial were the development and imposition of a tourist brand, the relationship between regional and national brands, the role of social media and creative industries in marketing, the crisis and reputation management, etc.

The Bulgarian video was the only spot shown and discussed in the framework of the event. “This video reveals an entirely new approach to the promotion of our country that enables us to stand out. We present not only the beauty of Bulgaria, but also the personal attitudes of international celebrities to our country. By becoming our ambassadors, all their fans will be motivated to visit Bulgaria, the country Hollywood stars are talking about, and will discover us as a tourist destination”, said Minister Angelkova, who was among the first to take the floor in the discussion.

To the question of Richard Quest whether it is valuable to have world celebrities promote you if you have to pay them for that, Nikolina Angelkova replied that “the most valuable is to have prominent figures share their experiences of Bulgaria at no cost for our country”. She explained that the video was produced in partnership with a leading film studio and the broadcasting rights were granted to the Bulgarian state free of charge. According to her, it is namely the personal impressions of the Hollywood actors that is most attractive to the audience. “The results we have in the social media indicate that we are on the right track - only within the first few days of its distribution the video has reached more than 2.5 million people through Facebook”, Minister Angelkova said.

The Ministerial was opened by WTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai. He congratulated the participants in the discussion and emphasized that this is the fifth consecutive year of growth in the tourism sector. It is expected that in 2015 it will reach 5%, with around 4 million people crossing daily national borders for the purpose of tourism.

Bulgaria is featured at WTM - London that will continue until November 5 with a national booth deployed on some 300 sq. meters, where 26 tourist companies and municipal administrations are presented. The by-program includes demonstrations of traditional crafts, national folk performances and tasting of Bulgarian wines. This is the biggest tourist exchange for professionals and the second most prestigious tourism fair in the world after ITB - Berlin.