site.btaBTA Signs Cooperation Agreement with Balneology and SPA Tourism Union

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) Monday signed a media cooperation agreement with the Bulgarian Union of Balneology and SPA Tourism (BUBSPA). The agreement was undersigned by BTA Director General Kiril Valchev and BUBSPA Chair Dr Siyka Katsarova on the sidelines of the 11th annual congress of BUBSPA taking place in Burgas.

The upcoming signing of the agreement was announced earlier in September during a forum on health strategies in the resort of Sveti Vlas.

"BTA will promote Bulgaria as a country for health tourism in a more systematic way. In the last three years, the news agency has developed opportunities that should be used for a greater and more systematic promotion in Bulgaria and around the world of this country as a destination for health tourism - balneological, spa, wellness, climatotherapeutic, thalassotherapeutic, medical," said Valchev.  

He pointed out that BTA has daily round-the-clock services in Bulgarian and English and added that this is important for the promotion of Bulgaria as a country for health tourism both inside the country and abroad. Also, BTA has partnerships with more than 40 national news agencies on four continents, with whom it has an arrangement for daily exchange of one news item. Furthermore, BTA has a network of correspondents and 40 national press clubs at home and abroad (including in regions with large Bulgarian communities) that provide news from their respective regions related to health tourism, but these press clubs can also serve as a platform for promoting health tourism in Bulgaria, including among Bulgarians around the world. He added that the BTA editorial policy allows mentioning the names of companies, hotels, medical centers, brands, investors in news items when it is part of essential information, Valchev said.

There are seven things to popularize, he said. 

First: the natural resources for balneo and spa tourism in Bulgaria. Bulgaria with its more than 550 explored deposits of thermal and mineral waters, with over 1600 mineral springs with a flow rate of 4900 liters per second, is the first in continental Europe and the second in Europe after Iceland in resources of natural mineral and spring water of natural origin, unique composition and drinking qualities, said Valchev.

"Bulgaria has proven places with air for climatotherapeutic tourism: Sandanski, Tryavna, Sveti Vlas. Bulgaria has 354 kilometers of Black Sea coastline with 78 developed sandy strips that allow thalassotherapeutic tourism. There are six lakes with healing mud and salt pans - Lake Shabla, Lake Rusalka, Lake Balchiska Tuzla, Lake Varna, Lake Atanasov and Lake Pomorie. The news about the research in these areas can significantly help to promote balneo and climate tourism in Bulgaria," the BTA Director General added.

"In Serdika (today's Sofia), Pautalia (today's Kyustendil), Germanea (today's Sapareva Banya), Augusta Traiana (today's Stara Zagora), Medicus (today's Sandanski), the Thracians used mineral waters as early as 2000 BC, and it is very likely that the emergence of prehistoric settlements in these places 6000 - 5000 BC was also due to mineral waters. That is why the section BG Archeology which BTA runs together with the National Archeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, can be useful for the promotion of spa tourism in Bulgaria. In more recent times, the first mineral water treatment centre in Varshets, which is the oldest spa resort in Bulgaria, was already operational in the mid-19th century which was before the Bulgarian State was restored, and the first bath there was built in 1910 shortly after the Liberation from Ottoman rule," Valchev said.

In his words, the state and municipalities in Bulgaria have the will to develop health tourism. "The proof is its growth, because according to the Ministry of Tourism, one sixth of tourism in Bulgaria is health tourism. There are responsible businesses in Bulgaria that are investing sustainably in spa and wellness tourism facilities. There are also serious opportunities for even greater investment because, according to a 2016 study at the University of Economics in Varna, only 5% of the available mineral springs in Bulgaria have been captured and are used in spa and wellness tourism. News stories of new investments for development of used and new spas can also contribute to the promotion of health tourism in Bulgaria. Last but not least, Bulgaria also has achievements in developing its own and introducing foreign technologies and equipment in the field of balneology and spa. News about this can also contribute to the promotion of health tourism and therefore the BTA's contract with BAS for dissemination of information about Bulgarian science is also of great benefit," said Valchev. 

He added that Bulgaria has specialists in the field of health tourism, as well as nearly 200 general hospitals with about 30,000 doctors and 30,000 nurses, and is among the first in the European Union in terms of the number of doctors per 100,000 population, according to Eurostat.

In addition to that, Bulgaria has physical therapy specialists, he said adding that eleven universities train medical specialists, with the first medical faculty opened at Sofia University in 1917. "More and more people will need prevention and treatment of various diseases. By 2030, the world's population is expected to reach 8.6 billion people, with life expectancy rising in the wealthiest countries continuing to age. The global direct medical tourism market in 2026 is expected to approach USD 50 billion, according to US-India market research firm Grand View Research. According to pulmonologist Prof. Kosta Kostov, 7 million people in the world have the so-called long COVID-19, which means that some of them could potentially be treated in Bulgaria. And the news about those who have recovered in Bulgaria also works for health tourism in our country," Valchev said.  

It transpired in his remarks at the signing of the agreement that the next edition of the BG Tourism Forum, to be held this autumn, will focus on spa and wellness tourism and combining it with traditional winter ski tourism in Bulgaria. "This is an initiative of the BTA for organizing forums which are held twice every year - at the beginning of the summer and winter tourist season, to discuss the messages that Bulgarian tourism wants to send during the coming season, with representatives of state and municipal institutions, the tourism business, NGOs, academics, experts and the media. An idea for the message of the forum this autumn could be a paraphrase of the Latin aphorism Medicus curat, natura sanat (The doctor cures, nature heals): Medicus curat, Bulgaria sanat, added Kiril Valchev.