Minister Angelkova: We are creating an online register of festivals in Bulgaria

The Ministry of Tourism is working on the development of an online register which is to gather information about all festivals and other similar events that generate tourist interest. The platform is intended to be accessed online via the website of the ministry, the minister of tourism said. This was announced by the minister of tourism Nikolina Angelkova at a meeting with the tourism industry and the local administration of Haskovo region. In the discussion participated the deputy Evgenia Angelova, the mayor of Haskovo municipality Dobri Belivanov, the mayor of Dimitrovgrad municipality Ivo Dimov, the regional governor Stanislav Dechev, etc.

“The results indicate that there is an ever increasing interest in the online register of the attractions which we developed last year. This motivates us to upgrade it by developing a register of all festivals and other events that prompt tourist interest”, said Nikolina Angelkova.  In her words, the aim is to support municipalities in promoting nationally and internationally the events organized by them while ensuring better planning of their implementation. “At present this information is available but is scattered among several institutions and it is important to consolidate it and make it accessible to everyone”, minister Angelkova stressed.

Haskovo region can develop many and diverse forms of tourism, the participants in the discussion pointed out. Among the main attractions in the region are the statue of St. Virgin Mary with the Infant in Haskovo, which is the largest in the world and is entered in the Guinness records, the church in Uzundjovo village, the Aleksandrovo tomb etc. “In order to support the promotion of all that wealth, one of the cultural-historical destinations we developed – “The Magic of East Rodopes” – is concentrated here“, Nikolina Angelkova stressed. At present interactive maps are being developed and one of them will cover the region which will help better present the sites to the tourists.  During the discussions it also became clear that there is an ever higher growth of sport and congress tourism in Haskovo municipality. The number of overnight stays in the region over the recent years has doubled and in 2015 they numbered over 92 thousand. The persons staying overnight are about 57 thousand and income from overnight stays alone is over 3.5 million leva.