Bulgaria to Seduce Tourists on London World Travel Market

Bulgaria is among the nations presented at the World Travel Market expo which takes place in London, UK November 8 - 11.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Tourism has organized the Bulgarian presentation, for which a 292 square meters pavilion has been rented.

The Bulgarian representatives at the expo - 23 travel agencies and members of municipal administrations - will inform the visitors of the opportunities for tourism that Bulgaria offers.

The emphasis in Bulgaria's participation is to be on cultural and heritage tourism, mainly in the regions of Sofia, the Black Sea, the Rila, Pirin and Balkan mountains.

Traditional Bulgarian crafts such as icon-painting and wood-carving are going to be shown to the expo's visitors. High-quality Bulgarian wine is to be sampled, too.

The World Travel Market (WTM) 2010 is organized by Reed Travel Exhibitions in London, United Kingdom at ExCeL Exhibition Centre fair ground. In 2009 the event gathered some 45 000 visitors from all around the world and had 5121 representatives from 187 different countries.

Bulgarian Govt Hopes for Modest Growth of British Tourists


Bulgaria hopes to see a 2-3% increase in the number of UK tourists visiting the country in the next 12 months, according to a senior government official.

According to Bulgaria's Deputy Economy Minister Ivo Marinov, who is in charge of tourism, the government's hopes for more British tourists are actually a bit more modest than the forecasts of the private sector.

"
Our forecast is for a maximum growth of 2-3% of the number of Brits visiting Bulgaria as tourists. We are glad to see that the private companies forecast a growth of 5%,"
Marinov said at the World Travel Market expo in London where he went to open the Bulgarian pavilion.

Marinov emphasized the fact that even though Bulgaria generally seeks to advertise itself as a year-round tourist destination, at the 2010 World Travel Market expo in London, it sought to stress cultural and historical tourism as well as all other forms of alternative tourism.

"
Summer and winter ski tourism are leading. This is what Bulgaria is known for but this doesn't mean that we won't work to target the market with the other kinds of tourism since they are year-round, and they generate a greater added value. The trends on the British market after the crisis point that these special kinds of tourism such as cultural tourism and spa tourism will enjoy rising demand,"
the Bulgarian Deputy Economy Minister explained.

Good luck to them they will need it

To true they will need it in London especially.

This big problem I see is that they will go wherever they need to in order to attract business and spend a fortune on the stands at these places yet when it come to hospitality training they don't have any idea or any budget for it which is where they need to start