site.btaBulgarian Tourism Ministry Honoured at Moscow's INTOURMARKET 2017

Bulgarian Tourism Ministry Honoured at Moscow's INTOURMARKET 2017

Moscow, March 12 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Tourism Ministry received a special diploma for active participation and presentation at the 12th International Travel Fair INTOURMARKET 2017. which is taking place in Moscow between March 11 and 13, the Ministry said in a press release.

This year Bulgaria has a 128 sq m national stand at INTOURMARKET. Tourism Minister Stela Baltova was an official guest and attended the opening ceremony for the fair. She conferred with Vitaliy Mutko, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister for sport, tourism and youth policy.

Baltova also had a session with Oleg Safonov, Head of Russia's Federal Agency for Tourism. She thanked for the fine cooperation with Rosturizm and stressed that Russia is one of Bulgaria's principal tourism partners as the country ranked among the top ten destinations preferred by non-package Russian holidaymakers in 2016. Safonov noted the interest shown in Russia in options for tourism in Bulgaria, saying that, in addition to the traditional seaside and ski vacations, Russian tourists are already looking for cultural, sightseeing, historical and patriotic, and hydrotherapy programmes.

During a meeting at the fair, Olga Yarilova, Director of the Department for Tourism and Regional Policy at Russia's Ministry of Culture, informed Baltova that Russia is planning to hold Days of Russian Spiritual Culture in Bulgaria, which will start in June 2017 by a major Bulgarian-Russian tourism forum in Sofia.

Baltova also conferred with Rosturizm Deputy Head Roman Skory, with Altai Krai Governor Aleksandr Karlin, with Kaliningrad Oblast Tourism Minister Andrei Ermak, with Ural Tourism Association Executive Director Mikhail Maltsev and other officials.

The centrepiece of the Bulgarian participation in INTOURMARKET 2017 was a Bulgarian-Russian roundtable on "Health and Recreation: Current Trends in the Development of Tourist Services," organized by the Bulgarian Tourism Ministry and the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism.