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European Spas & Balneology Congress 2025

Bulgaria Positioned Successfully on European Balneological Tourism Map - BUBSPA Ambassador Plugchieva

Dimitrina Solakova, Anelia Tsvetkova
Bulgaria Positioned Successfully on European Balneological Tourism Map - BUBSPA Ambassador Plugchieva
Bulgaria Positioned Successfully on European Balneological Tourism Map - BUBSPA Ambassador Plugchieva
Meglena Plugchieva, Ambassador of the Bulgarian Union of Balneology and SPA Tourism, at the European Spas & Balneology Congress 2025, Haapsalu, Estonia, October 8, 2025 (BTA Photo/Kiril Valchev)
Sofia/Haapsalu, Estonia,  
08.10.2025 18:17
 (BTA)

Bulgaria is positioned exceptionally successfully on the European map of balneological and spa tourism, Meglena Plugchieva, Ambassador of the Bulgarian Union of Balneology and SPA Tourism (BUBSPA), told BTA on Wednesday. She was among the participants in the European Spas & Balneology Congress 2025, held in Haapsalu on October 8 to 10. 

The forum is organized by the European Spas Association (ESPA) and Estonia's Economy and Industry Ministry. BTA is media partner of the event.

Commenting on the election of BUBSPA President Siyka Katsarova as ESPA President, Plugchieva said that is a recognition not only of Katsarova but also of the successes of the Bulgarian balneological and spa tourism and of BUBSPA in the last 20 years. 

She described as a challenge lying ahead the need to work on changing the image of balneological tourism: it is not a luxury but care for health and prevention, and that preventive care should be integrated in countries' healthcare systems, the way Germany, Czechia, and Austria have done. Preventive and recovery procedures there are covered partially by insurance companies or insurance institutes. That practice, which is already spreading across Europe, should be adopted in Bulgaria as well, Plugchieva argued. She also called fro clearly formulated criteria for assessing balneological centres. 

"Currently, the Health Tourism Union in Bulgaria is in talks with the National Social Security Institute, and talks are forthcoming with the Ministry of Health, as well as with insurance companies in our country, to find such opportunities and schemes so that more Bulgarian citizens can benefit from good, affordable, and acceptable prices and use all these balneological services in our hotels, where there are balneological centrеs," Plugchieva added. 

/RY/

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By 23:14 on 11.10.2025 Today`s news

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