site.btaTourism Business Moderately Optimistic about Winter Season

Tourism Business Moderately  Optimistic about Winter Season

Sofia, November 25 (BTA) - Tourism business representatives are moderately optimistic about the coming winter season, Deputy Tourism Minister Irena Georgieva told journalists Wednesday. She opened the Go2Balkans travel forum at Sofia's Inter Expo Centre. Although there are concerns about the warm weather, bookings are quite promising and there are expectations for last-minute bookings.

Israel, Moldova, Britain, Slovakia, Macedonia, as well as the traditional Balkan markets of Greece, Romania and Turkey are among those on which Bulgaria relies for the coming season. The last three countries account for the largest number of tourists and revenue. In 2014, Greek tourists in Bulgaria topped one million, Romanians were slightly over 500,000, and Turks were slightly fewer than 500,000.

The Tourism Ministry will support any initiative for the establishment of shared Balkan tourist products. Such a possibility exists within the framework of the Danube Strategy, more specifically in the development of cultural and historical routes. In addition, Bulgaria and Romania have signed a memorandum of cooperation and have made progress towards developing a joint tourist centre in China. Talks with similar objectives are currently under way with Greece.

Bulgaria is also operating in the 16+1 format in which China is negotiating investments with Central and Eastern European countries, particularly with the tourist coordination centre which is to develop joint tourist products for the Balkan region and the 16 countries that attract Chinese tourists. Chinese tourists are interested in at least three destinations per one trip, which lasts between ten and 14 days.