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Sozopol tops The Wonders of Bulgaria rankings



The coastal town of Sozopol has won the first place at the top 10 tourist destinations ranking The Wonders of Bulgaria. The town was chosen for its uniqueness, attractive landscape and potential for development at a meeting in the Sofia-based National Palace of Culture. The event brought together mayors, politicians, historians, archaeologists, as well as representatives of the tourist business and the media. “This is a historic opportunity to prove that a 2620 year-old town is precious not only for Bulgaria’s history but also for the development of the European civilization. Sozopol deserves to top The Wonders of Bulgaria because there is no bigger miracle than the excavation of the remains of St John the Baptist in out town”, mayor of Sozopol Panayot Reizi said.





The second and third places were awarded to the archaeological complex of Perperikon in the Rhodopes and the antique coastal town of Nessebar. The three Bulgarian destinations will be promoted at all professional travel trade expos in Europe, including ITB Berlin, one of the world’s leading travel trade shows, Bulgaria’s Economy Minister Traicho Traikov said. He also noted that these destinations would be included in Bulgaria’s new promotional video for cultural tourism. The Ministry of Economy committed itself to presenting Bulgaria’s top 10 monuments to home and foreign journalists, as well as to professional foreign tour operators that sell holiday packages in Bulgaria. Bulgaria’s 10 wonders will receive some 5 million Euro additional funding, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov announced during a discussion for promoting Bulgaria’s cultural heritage. The funding will cover promotional costs and infrastructure projects. Here is more from Slavka Bozoukova, Editor-in-Chief of Standard newspaper and organizer of the initiative:

“In early February we launched an on-line poll to find out what Bulgaria’s top 50 destinations are. Literally speaking, the leader destination was changing every hour. On the basis of a strict selection scheme we limited the places to 10 out of 30. The reason why we have done this campaign is the need to build up a modern strategy for the development of Bulgaria’s cultural and historical tourism and the preservation of the country’s heritage. Our task has been quite difficult due to the so many archaeological finds discovered recently in Bulgaria. We also want to enhance the cooperation between the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism and the Ministry of Culture in their attempt to promote the country’s cultural heritage”

The meeting at the National Palace of Culture also saw the outlining of a few problems. According to historian Bozhidar Dimitrov, authorities should invest mostly in the restoration of the selected cultural monuments than in the infrastructure around them, since they already have developed infrastructure. Archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov brought forward another problem, namely the need for registration of the monuments in Bulgaria and transparency with regard to the ownership of the land on which they are found. Because the monuments are not registered they cannot apply for EU funding. Blagoy Ragin, President of the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association, said that the country needed to use well-tried practices for the development of tourism, such as boosting advertisement. These practices should be funded by the state which will subsequently profit from them, he said further. In his words, the development of tourism can lead to a 20% increase in employment rates.