The Belarussian-Bulgarian task group for tourism cooperation held its first meeting in Minsk

The first meeting of the Belarussian-Bulgarian task group for tourism cooperation, which is set up to the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission for Commercial-Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation, was held in Minsk. The Bulgarian delegation was led by the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Irena Georgieva, while the Belorussian one – by the Deputy Minister of Sport and Tourism, Mikhail Portnoy.

„Belarus is a very important market for Bulgarian tourism and our bilateral relations in the sector have very good traditions. Our aspiration is to jointly build on the levels achieved with even better results and at faster pace”, Deputy Minister Georgieva stated during the meeting.

Bulgaria and Belarus confirmed their readiness to develop their partnership in this key economic area, being guided by the tourism cooperation agreement between the two governments, as effective since 2009. The two parties agreed to exchange information about the legislative regulation in the area of rural tourism and ecotourism, as well as in regards to the operation of tourist information centres, the method for collecting stats, etc.

Bulgaria and Belarus will also exchange information in regards to the methodology for reporting the number of tourists and night-stays, as well as participation in international tourism expositions in 2017 and 2018. A commitment was undertaken to notify in due time tour operators and travel agents about arrangements relating to child recreation in Bulgaria, once the dedicated ordinance on this type of recreation in our country is passed. The opportunities for increasing the number of organized children groups coming for recreation purposes to Bulgaria were also discussed. The agreements reached also include elaboration of a 2017 - 2018 roadmap, which will serve as schedule of specific event promoting the two-way tourist flow.

Minutes of the meeting were signed and a decision was made to hold the task group’s next meeting in Bulgaria during 2017. Following the meeting’s business part, a bilateral roundtable was held for discussion of current issues and steps towards activation of bilateral b2b cooperation. Leading tour operators from both countries took part in the discussions.