The Bulgarian minister had a working meeting with George Tziallas, Secretary General for Tourism Policy and Development of the Greek Ministry of Tourism.
The partnership between Bulgaria and Greece in the field of tourism is growing and both countries are working on joint initiatives to attract more visitors to the Balkan region. This was stated by Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova during a working meeting with George Tziallas, Secretary General for Tourism Policy and Development of the Ministry of Tourism of Greece. This bilateral meeting was held within the framework of the Second International Congress on World Civilizations and Historic Routes, which has been taking place since yesterday in Sofia and is organized by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
Minister Angelkova said that Greek tourists are among the largest tourist groups coming to our country and added that Greece is one of the favorite destinations for Bulgarians, as the exchange of guests is almost equal. Last year, the number of tourist visits from Greece to Bulgaria exceeded 1.1 million, which represents an increase of 8.5% compared to the year 2016 and the country occupies the first place in the ranking of inbound tourism in Bulgaria. The number of visits by Greek tourists in the first nine months of this year exceeds 852 thousand.
The initiative to create a common Balkan tourist route, proposed by Bulgaria, is very promising and was supported by Greece during the meeting of 11 countries of the region held in Sofia in May 2018. The Ministry of Tourism will organize discussion meetings on this topic and Soon we will present the vision of the Bulgarian part of the route to other members of the project working group, said Minister Angelkova. According to her, as two neighboring countries on good terms, we will be able to popularize the common concept even more effectively, which will make the Balkans more attractive.
They highlighted that the two countries are cooperating in the implementation of the “Along the Western Silk Road” initiative, which aims to attract visitors from markets far from Europe. Bulgaria and Greece are members of the World Tourism Organization program “Along the Silk Road”. In 2017, they organized two working seminars within the framework of the new Western Silk Road initiative and participated in the creation of a roadmap within the framework of the project through national analyses. They were prepared by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The Bulgarian proposal envisages the creation of regional products linked to silk, for example, by consolidating the tourist potential of Greek and Bulgarian cities with traditions such as those of Soufli and Ivaylovgrad.
Minister Angelkova proposed to organize before the international tourism fair ITB in Berlin a Bulgarian-Greek meeting on current issues in the field of tourism, in order to discuss new possibilities for attracting more Greek tourists to our resorts. ‘winter. This meeting will bring together representatives of businesses and local authorities from both countries.
Secretary General Tziallas expressed his country’s confidence in the usefulness of cooperation and emphasized the role of joint work of tourism administrations to mobilize businesses and experts for the implementation of these initiatives, including the host will be Bulgaria for the second time, as well as its satisfaction with the meetings organized within the framework of the forum.