Minister Nikolina Angelkova has taken part in the opening of the first meeting of the mayors of the capitals of Central and Eastern Europe countries and China (16+1)

According to the data of the World Tourist Barometer, a total of 141 mln visits of foreign tourists in the countries of the Initiative 16+1 were registered last year. The revenue from these visits amounts to around 161 billion dollars. This was announced by Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova in the opening of the first meeting of the mayors of the capitals of Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) and China (16+1), titled “Sofia - intersection of new opportunities”.

Minister Nikolina Angelkova greeted the participants in the forum with the World Tourism Day - 27 September. According to her words, more that 1.2 billion tourists per year travel around the world. She added that tourism is one of the sectors, which needs joint efforts and a deeper partnership. “This goal can be achieved through participation in initiatives such as “16+1” and an active dialogue between the countries,” emphasized Minister Angelkova. In the field of tourism, several documents have already been signed between Bulgaria and the People's Republic of China, which are the basis for a more enhanced cooperation not only between Sofia and Beijing, but also among all countries of the CEECs Initiative and China, it became clear from her statement.

“The role of our capital cities, which to a great extent form the image of the national tourism, is indisputable,” said Nikolina Angelkova. She also commented the results achieved by Sofia. In the last year our capital was visited by nearly 916 thousand tourists and the incomes from overnights only amount to 116 mln BGN. This year has begun at an even better pace for Sofia and only in the first seven months the capital welcomed nearly 553 thousand tourists, which is a growth of 8.6% compared to the same period last year. Angelkova pointed out that the countries of the Initiative must develop common tourist routes and products at regional and national level, because the Chinese tourists prefer to visit at least three countries when coming to Europe. “It is necessary to expand our cooperation in this direction, because this will increase the interest in our countries as sustainable and year-round tourist destinations,” she added.

Minister Angelkova emphasized that a common goal of the Ministry of Tourism and Sofia Municipality is to keep these tourists longer in the region. That is why the team of the Ministry has developed 8 cultural-historical destinations, which cover the territory of the whole country. One of them - Sofia Sveta Gora, is located around the capital. In order to facilitate the tourists to find the landmarks in each region, we have published interactive maps of the 8 cultural-historical destinations on the website of the institution, which are available on the following link:

http://www.tourism.government.bg/bg/pages/kulturno-istoricheski-destinacii

The event was attended by the mayor of Sofia Municipality Yordanka Fandakova, the  Chairman of the Beijing People's Congress Du Deyin, the ambassador of the People’s Republic of China Zhang Haijoe, the Head of the Permanent Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria Boyan Zlatev, representatives of the local authorities and business from all 16 Central and eastern Europe countries and China etc.

16+1 is an initiative of the government of China, aiming to promote cooperation between China and the sixteen countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE): Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Republic of Macedonia.