The Ministry of Tourism participates in the international forum "Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe" in Greece

The Deputy Minister of Tourism Prof. Mariela Modeva participated in the eleventh annual meeting of the international forum "Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe" in Chania, Crete.

This year, the forum is under the title "Protection of European values, heritage and dialogue". The participants in the event were representatives of the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Council of Europe, the European Institute of Cultural Routes, the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Greece, the Ministry of Tourism of Greece, the Greek National Tourism Organization, the Municipality of Chania, the Historical Coffee Routes and others.

The event was thematic and specialized, which provides more effective guidelines for the development of individual components of the tourism industry. In front of the participants, Prof. Modeva outlined the cultural-historical map of Bulgaria, our architectural heritage, the route of the Roman emperors, the Danube wine map, the cultural-historical route "Cyril and Methodius", the route of women writers, the European routes of industrial heritage as part of the cultural-historical map of Europe. She emphasized that Bulgaria has a rich history and is third in terms of cultural and historical landmarks in Europe. Our country has the potential to be a globally recognized tourist destination, but it needs better positioning of its combined tourism product and targeted advertising.

"Our joint work and exchange of experience in the preservation of our cultural sights and the advertising of this sector plays an extremely important role in the development of cultural and historical tourism in Europe," said the Deputy Minister of Tourism.

The professor took part in a discussion panel on "Development of creative industries, cultural tourism, innovative technologies for sustainable development of tourism". Within the framework of the discussion, Deputy Minister Modeva presented the successful practices in the development of Bulgarian cultural and historical tourism, in accordance with the Plan for Cultural Tourism approved in 2019. Prof. Modeva presented the opportunities of our country in this priority tourism sub-sector by providing specifics for successfully developing our native destinations, such as Koprivshtitsa, which a year ago received recognition from the WTO under the BEST TOURISM VILLAGES initiative, when it was among the awarded villages in one of the categories.

The routes are an important platform of interaction, within which many European countries participate, united by their common cultural, historical, geographical and other values. They have the potential to exist as attractive tourist products to attract consumers from distant markets – those outside Europe. Cultural routes are the foundation of the sector's sustainable development, because they are based on years of traditions, contacts and successful practices.

The congress took place within the framework of a three-day conference, during which the participants held a number of informal meetings where state policies in the field of tourism and culture were discussed.