site.btaBookings Made by Domestic Tourists in Bulgaria in First Seven Months of 2024 Exceed 2019 Levels, Deputy Tourism Minister Says

The number of bookings made by domestic tourists in Bulgaria from January to the end of July have increased by more than 5% compared to a very strong 2019, Deputy Tourism Minister Irena Georgieva said here on Friday. She was speaking during a ceremony marking 129 years of organized tourism in Bulgaria, held in front of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre.

She congratulated the Bulgarian Tourism Union (BTU) on behalf of the caretaker Minister of Tourism, Evtim Miloshev, on the occasion of the anniversary of the organized tourism movement in this country.

Congratulations were also extended by Deputy Minister of Environment Reneta Koleva, who participated in the ceremony. She recalled that the Ministry is committed to environmental and water protection policies and stressed that it is everyone’s responsibility to preserve nature.

BTU Chairperson Ventsislav Venev said that his organization and the Environment and Water Ministry have many common tasks. "I hope we will soon have the first results of our joint work. We are yet to address the biggest problem of Bulgarian mountain tourism," he added, referring to a BTU-owned chalet on Musala Peak in the Rila Mountains. In his words, water has to be supplied to the chalet so it can be put into operation, and advanced technology has to be adopted for the discharge of its wastewater. "I hope we will receive support from the institutions, mainly from the Environment Ministry," Venev said.

Speaking to reporters, the BTU Chairperson said that he expects the organization’s membership to increase from the current over 20,000-plus people to over 100,000 in a year or two, as is set out in the BTU Strategy adopted at its last congress in June.

Friday’s event was part of the programme for day one of the three-day observances. Earlier in the day, flowers were laid at a commemorative plaque marking the start of organized tourism in Bulgaria. The plaque is embedded in a stone placed in the park area in front of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre. It was from there, on August 27, 1895, at writer and public figure Aleko Konstantinov’s call, that nature lovers set out to climb Cherni Vrah Mountain, and organized tourism in Bulgaria was born.

Every year, towards the end of August, thousands of hikers follow in the footsteps of the first 300 enthusiasts who followed the writer's call 129 years ago in the first organized hike up Vitosha. Traditionally, mountain lovers gather on Cherni Vrah for the National Tourist Convention to celebrate the holiday of Bulgarian tourism.