site.btaUPDATED BTA Director General: Bulgaria's Specific Message in Winter Season Should Be Focused on Year-Round Tourism

Representatives of the State, municipalities, businesses, NGOs and universities, as well as representatives of the largest Bulgarian media and members of the Union of Bulgarian National Electronic Media (UBNEM) Friay discussed Bulgaria's specific message for the upcoming winter tourist season at a BTA-organized forum in the southern village of Banya. Opening the meeting, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said that the idea behind the forum in a spa hotel at the foot of Pirin Mountain is to focus the specific message on year-round tourism in Bulgaria every year.

The BTA Director General noted that such a message is also summarized by the Bulgarian Union of Balneology and Spa Tourism (BUBSPA) to present Bulgaria as the land of the three W's: Wellness, Wein (Wine), and Weltkulturerbe (World Cultural Heritage).

According to Valchev, in a year when in many places around the world there is talk of economic recession, Bulgaria should rely on messages that winter holidays here are a bargain. Valchev underscored that this should not be with an emphasis on low prices, but on added value, pointing to the possibility of combining skiing and spa. A possible message is "Bulgaria: the Land of the Three S - Ski, Sea and SPA".

In Valchev's words, the focus on balneo, SPA, climate and medical tourism allows Bulgaria to be presented as a country with more than 550 explored deposits of thermal and mineral waters, with more than 1,600 mineral springs, with a flow rate of 4,900 litres per second, which places Bulgaria first in continental Europe and second in Europe after Iceland for natural mineral and spring water resources. Valchev also noted that Bulgaria has proven places with air for climatotherapy, offers the opportunity for thalassotherapeutic tourism, and has six lakes with healing mud and salt pans.

Another highlight of this winter season is that it is Bulgaria's first as a full member of Schengen, following the EU Council's decision on Thursday to abolish checks at the Schengen land borders of Bulgaria and Romania. That is why one of the possible messages relevant to the neighbouring Greek and Romanian tourists is also "Bulgaria: Ski & Spa without Borders in the EU", Valchev said. The abolition of land border controls between the neighbouring Greeks and Romania is also an opportunity for common messages on shared routes, Valchev added.

It is important to have specific messages to Bulgarians outside the borders of Bulgaria, for whom their homeland is also a tourist destination and more accessible for skiing and spa, without border controls after the entry in Schengen, said Valchev.

At the beginning of the forum, the BTA Director General recalled the previous five forums, which BTA organizes annually at the beginning of the summer and winter season in Bulgaria. At the five editions of the forum held so far, the specific messages for the seasons were related to the specific challenges in different years. In the summer of 2022 in Varna, the message "Bulgaria Is Safe" was chosen, and in the winter of 2022/2023 in Bansko, the message "Bulgaria: Vacation without Restrictions" was chosen, when countries in Europe had restrictions on electricity, water, heating, working hours, etc. In the summer of 2023 in Burgas, the message "Bulgaria: More Value, Same Price" was chosen, and in the winter of 2023/2024 in Samokov the message was "Bulgaria: There Is Snow!/ Bulgaria: A Safe destination". In the summer of this year in the resort of Albena, the message was "Bulgaria: Warm but not Hot", as well as "You Are Welcome in Bulgaria!".

At the end of the forum, Valchev concluded that free movement gives a great opportunity to try to work with Bulgaria's neighbors, specifically Romania and Greece, but also to offer common packages and common advertising in the Balkans.  

He pointed out that the other obvious message of Friday's meeting was summed up with the slogan "It's Worth It" and what was said at the beginning of the discussion in by the Tourism Minister:  "a destination where the experience exceeds the price". "The final message that Bulgaria should start broadcasting was said in different words - about the diversity that our country offers, which makes a great slogan: the union of skiing, sun and spa without borders, Valchev said.

The BTA Director General said that the next tourism meeting will be on the Black Sea coast in early June. There, too, the unification of the message broadcast at Friday's forum will be sought. 

BTA's tourism forums are held twice every year at the beginning of the summer and winter tourist seasons to discuss the messages in the presentation of tourism in Bulgaria in the coming season with representatives of state and municipal institutions, the tourism business, NGOs, scientists and experts. The list of participants in the latest forum includes caretaker Minister of Tourism Miloshev, Deputy Tourism Minister Irena Georgieva, the President’s advisor for environment, Rossitsa Karamfilova-Blagova, Bulgarian Union of Balneology and Spa Tourism (BUBSPA) Ambassador Meglena Plugchieva, BUBSPA Secretary General Tsvetina Ivanova, and local mayors. Also participating were Bulgarian National Radio Director General Milen Mitev, Anton Andonov, member of the Board of Bulgarian National Television, Dimitar Anestev, producer of news at bTV, Alexander Raykov, producer of the newsroom planning at Nova TV, Council of Electronic Media member Gabriela Naplatanova, as well as rectors and representatives of three universities, hotel and restaurant businesses.