Ministry of Tourism gave out the annual tourism awards for 2023 at a ceremony

Minister Zaritza Dinkova hosted the annual tourism awards event

‘We have gathered to honour everyone who contributes to the promotion of the wonderful tourism sector, because this is our country's calling card. Bulgaria has a lot — culture, art and beautiful nature. All of you who care and continue to make efforts for the development of Bulgarian tourism deserve not only a prize, but also an incentive. We will work together for better sustainability of the sector. Action is an important priority for me and my team. This leads to achieving targeted results.’ With these words, Tourism Minister Zaritza Dinkova welcomed the guests at the annual Tourism Awards ceremony, which took place in Sofia.

The event was held under the patronage of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria, Acad. Nikolay Denkov, who in a special video address congratulated the Ministry of Tourism and all those present. Among the dignitaries were the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Tourism, Erten Anisova, MPs, prof. Nikolay Izov, Rector of the National Sports Academy, prof. Rumen Draganov, Director of the Institute for Analysis and Evaluation in Tourism, ambassadors, mayors, representatives of the academic community, business, tourism organizations, media, etc.

The winners in all categories — 4 professional, 4 artistic and the traditional grand prize ‘The Choice of the Bulgarians’, received the traditional statuette, a trademark of the competition and a symbol of our country — the Bulgarian rose, made by Dimitar Germanov, and the second and third place winners — diplomas of the Ministry of Tourism.

The ceremony of awarding the statuettes was opened by Minister Dinkova, who presented the grand prize ‘The Choice of the Bulgarians’ together with the student from the Sofia Professional High School of Tourism Dimitar Tsvetkov to Dimo Dimov, Mayor of the Municipality of Provadia, for the Ovech Fortress.

The first prize in the category ‘Tourist Attraction/Project/Event’ was awarded by Erten Anisova to Gagik Arakelyan for the complex ‘The Inn’. Prof. Nikolay Izov presented an award for Tourist destination to Petar Dobrev, Mayor of the village of Neofit Rilski

The Specialized Tourism category was awarded by Professor Mariela Modeva – Advisor to the Minister of Tourism and the prize was received by Boris Borisov from Bulgarian Golf Tours. The statuette in the category ‘Innovation’ was taken by Tsanko Kolev from Yurt Camp ‘Naedno’, which was presented by prof. Rumen Draganov.

The second part of the ceremony was dedicated to the achievements of the media covering tourism. Deputy Minister of Tourism Irena Georgieva presented a statuette for ‘Journalistic material on TV’ to Zhivko Konstantinov. Nikolay Vasilkovsky presented a prize to Antoaneta Tityanova-Milcheva in the category ‘Journalistic material in print media’. For the best journalistic appearance in online media by the voters was named Kristian Ivanov, and the award was presented by Christina Hristova from BNT. In the category ‘The publication on the topic: Tourism in Bulgaria in an Internet Blog’ the award went to Kristina Patrunova by Chef Ivan Manchev.

The Minister of Tourism Zaritza Dinkova awarded honorary prizes for special achievements and innovations in the field of tourism. Awards were received by Mirosveta Encheva on behalf of Albena AD, Jason King, CEO of Yettel, Ventsislav Venev, Chairperson of the Bulgarian Tourist Union, Rene Detzen, General Manager of Kempinski Grand Arena Bansko, Elitsa Stoilova, co-founder and manager of Umni.bg, Dr. Siyka Katsarova, Chairperson of the Board of the Bulgarian Union of Spa Tourism, Blagoy Ragin, Honorary Chairperson of the Bulgarian Hotel And Restaurant Association, Dr. Meglena Plugchieva, Ambassador of Destination Bulgaria to the German, Austrian and Swiss markets, Ladislav Tsvetkov, multimedia reporter at bTV, Ruslan Yordanov, journalist and owner of the Bgtourism.bg news agency.