Central Stara Planina Tourism

A need to revitalise regional tourism led to the first Best Touristic Sites in the Region of Central Stara Planina awards six years ago. The tradition has continued annually to 2007, with this year’s ceremony held at Hotel Balkan in Gabrovo on December 2.

Sylvia Hinkova, executive director of Regional Tourist Association (RTA) Stara Planina, which organises the ceremony and confers the awards, and regional political figures bestowed the hand-crafted wooden statues.

Winner of the best city hotel 2007 in the Central Stara Planina region was Park Hotel Troyan in Troyan, a recently renovated former communist construction with 52 guest rooms and a restaurant that seats 120. The best vacation hotel award went to Strannopriemnitsa Hotel located at Architectural-Ethnographic Complex Etur, near Gabrovo; best family hotel went to Family Hotel Bile (“bile” is the name for the liquorice plant in Bulgarian) in the village of Beli Osum, Troyan municipality; and best guest house went to Balkan Guest House in the village of Valevtsi, Sevlievo municipality.

Places to lay one’s head for a night were not the only to win recognition. The award for best restaurant in the Central Stara Planina region 2007 went to Odessa, in Sevlievo; Lovech’s Regional History Museum won the best museum award. Sevlievo municipality was awarded the prize for most active support of RTA Stara Planina during 2007, and Varna-based New Balkan Tours Agency received the award for sending the most toursits to the Central Stara Planina region.

The Central Stara Planina region comprises the municipatlities of Sevlievo, Dryanovo, Tryavna, Gabrovo, Apriltsi, Troyan, Teteven and Lovech. (If as looking at a clock, Sevlievo would be 12.00, and from there clockwise, Gabrovo would be 6.00 and such around.) The higest point is Botev Peak at 2376m. Central Balkan National Park and Bulgarka Nature Park draw visitors for their peaceful and clean-aired natural settings.

Special awards was also granted to deserving bodies at the ceremony. Stanislav Kolev of Hotel Palace in Kazanluk won the award for best tourism manager, Hristo Balabanov of Balabanova Kushta in Tryavna won the tourism entrepreneur award, and the bTV programme Globousut (The Globe) won the award for best media partner in promotion of the Central Stara Planina region. Hotel Complex Diplomat Plaza in Loukovit, the first four-star business hotel in Bulgaria, was awarded the number one tourist site prize.

Certificates of recognition covered the rest of the bases. Kostenkovtsi, a complex for village and eco-tourism in Gabrovo municipality, received kudos of its contribution to building up an attractive image of the region. Hotel Centre in Apriltsi received a certificate for the best investment in tourism in the Central Stara Planina region. Johnson Guest House in Ribaritsa, Teteven municipality, was named the best example of hospitality and showing care to guests. For the best start-up tourism business in 2007, Art M Guest House in Tryavna received a certificate, and the prize for most original and attractive museum exposition in 2007 in the Central Stara Planina region went to the History Museum in Gorna Oryahovitsa.