site.btaBulgarian Tourist Information Centre Opens in Tokyo

Bulgarian Tourist Information Centre Opens in Tokyo

Tokyo/Sofia, October 20 (BTA) - Bulgarian Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova attended the opening of a Bulgarian tourist information centre in Tokyo, Angelkova's Ministry said in a press release Thursday. The centre opened in pursuance of an agreement between the Tourism Ministry and the Japan-Southeast Europe Business Association (JSEEBA). Bulgaria will not pay anything for the centre. Instead, the costs of all its activities will be covered by JSEEBA while the Bulgarian Tourism Ministry will provide up-to-date promotional materials.

Angelkova stressed the importance of the fact that Bulgaria is now physically present on the tourist market in Japan. She said that among Asian tourists Bulgaria is known for its rose oil and yoghurt and that the centre will offer many other attractive forms of tourism.

Japan is among the top 50 in the emerging markets for Bulgarian tourism and is ranked 41st in January-August 2016 with more than 9,000 visitors, which is an increase of 16.5 per cent compared to the like period in 2015.

Bulgarian official statistics puts the number of Japanese visitors in 2015 at 12,362.

At the opening ceremony JSEEBA President and Representative Director Kihachiro Nishiura spoke about the work and the services which the centre will provide. The Japanese official stressed the yet untapped potential for increasing the bilateral flow of tourists, adding that JSEEBA will continue to work in this direction. Nishiura thanked for the good communication with the Bulgarian Tourism Ministry and the support for the realization of the initiative to open the centre.