Minister Nikolina Angelkova met with Oleg Safonov, the acting head of the Russian Federal Tourism Agency

Bulgaria and Russia will initiate the signing of a cooperation agreement in the cruise tourism sector.  This was negotiated between the Bulgarian Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova and the acting head of the Russian Federal Tourism Agency Oleg Safonov during the Moscow International Travel Fair Intourmaket.  The two of them were unanimous that cruise tourism has very high potential and a protocol of the kind could be used as a common reference document for the member states of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation.

“The acceptance of the National Representation of the Ministry of Tourism as an associated member to the Association of the Russian Tour Operators indicates that economic cooperation in the tourism sector between Bulgaria and Russia will be strengthened”, said Nikolina Angelkova. She noted that Russia is one of the most strategic markets for our country and Russian tourists are among the biggest consumers of our tourist product.  “We’ll strive to enhance the tourist exchange not only for summer tourism which makes for the greatest tourist share but also for children camps, family vacations, cultural and historical, mountain, balneo and SPA programmes and others”, added the Minister.  The Minister also stated that pilgrim tourism also has very high potential as Bulgaria has over 4 200 monasteries and churches that attract Russian tourists. She addressed an invitation to her Russian colleague to visit our country and take part in the international conference on river and sea tourism which will take place in Sofia on 8-9 June and will be under the patronage of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Oleg Safonov expressed his interest in both initiatives and said that the Association will try to participate.

The existing Agreement for Cooperation between the Ministry of Tourism and the Altai Region will serve as a basis for strengthening future relations. Concrete steps remain to be outlined, including exchange of tours for tour operators, student groups, professional experience etc. This was negotiated at a meeting between Minister Nikolina Angelkova and Alexander Bogdanovich Karlin, governor of the Altai region. Partnership between the Shumen and the Altai regions and the upcoming town-twining of the Kyustendil and Belokuriha cities are examples for good partnership which included cooperation in tourism as well. “We can work towards the creation of a programme for exchanging experience in the field of balneo and SPA procedures”, added the Bulgarian Minister. She addressed an invitation to Alexander Karlin to take part in the next edition of the Holiday&SPA Expo which is held in Sofia each year.

During the Intourmarket International Travel Exhibit, Minister Angelkova also met with Sergey Shilko, the Head of Moscow Tourism and Hospitality Committee and President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, with the governor of the Republic of Komi Vyacheslav Gaizer, with the Minister of Culture of the Tula region Tatyana Rybkina, with the Chair of the Culture Committee of the Tverskaya region Elena Shevchenko and others.