site.btaBulgaria Earns Vice-Presidency of World Tourism Organization's 21st General Assembly

Bulgaria Earns Vice-Presidency of World Tourism Organization's 21st General Assembly

Bogota/Sofia, September 15 (BTA) - On the opening day of the 21st General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Bulgaria and Spain were elected vice presidents of the biennial forum, the Bulgarian Tourism Ministry reported on September 14.

Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova described this as a major achievement for Bulgaria. She said the country's election by a unanimous vote of the UNWTO member countries showed that Bulgaria plays an important part in global tourism.

The large-scale event in Medellin, Colombia, has brought together government ministers from over 155 countries and more than 800 delegates from all over the world.

In the sidelines of the General Assembly, Angelkova and Czech Regional Development Minister Karla Slechtova discussed bilateral cooperation to increase the share of Chinese tourists visiting Bulgaria and the Czech Republic over the long term. Angelkova told Slechtova that Bulgaria and China have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Tourism, which is not only a serious step forward in the two countries' partnership, but also a way of making Europe a preferred destination for Chinese travellers.

Slechtova noted that, according to official data, 10 per cent of Chinese tourists in Europe wish to use one-month tourist service packages, which means developing multi-destination tours that can include Bulgaria. The Czech minister said Prague can become a distribution centre to direct the tourist flow from China to various European regions. She expressed her government's willingness to increase the frequency of flights between Prague and Sofia and to set up an air service between the Czech capital and the Bulgarian seaport of Varna. Slechtova added that there is already a direct air service linking Prague with Beijing.

China is currently the number one tourism source market in the world, both in terms of number of tourists and travel expenses, the Bulgarian Tourism Ministry said, citing UNWTO data. The total number of trips abroad from China is estimated to have increased by 11 million to 109 million in 2014. China is the world's top spender in terms of outbound tourism; in 2014 the country continued its exceptional pace of growth with a 28 per cent increase in expenditure, reaching a total of 165 billion US dollars. CLSA, a leading investment and consulting firm in Asia, predicts that the annual number of international trips from China will reach 200 million by 2020.

Angelkova also met with China's National Tourism Administration Chairman Li Jinzao. Li expressed his satisfaction that China has made considerable progress in its partnership with Europe within a very short period of time. This has involved the development of common tourist products and the facilitation of visa issuance by establishing a partnership with France, which now runs 20 visa centres in China.

In 2014, Bulgaria was visited by 14,000 Chinese tourists, increasing by more than 30 per cent compared with 2013, the Bulgarian Tourism Ministry said. In the first seven months of 2015, nearly 9,000 Chinese tourists travelled to Bulgaria, up by 14 per cent compared with the first seven months of 2014.