150000 Bulgarians Visit Spa Centres Every Year

Around 150 000 people visit the spa and balneological centres in Bulgaria every year, the vice chairman of Bulgaria's State Tourism Agency said on Monday.

The bigger number of them are Bulgarians and Bulgarian citizens living abroad, Stanislav Novakov added.

There are more than 800 mineral springs in Bulgaria and 90% of them have strong healing qualities and effect. The sad news is that only 5% of them are used for the purpose, Novakov said.

In order to promote the spa tourism, the State Tourism Agency organizes a series of seminars in the framework of the Bulgarian presidency of the Central European Initiative for spa and wellness tourism in the Central European countries, which opened in Sofia on Monday.

Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Romania and Hungary are among the countries, which take participation in the event.

Officials from the regional representation of the World Tourism Organization and the European Spa Association also join the forum.