Sofia tourist region out on the international market

bnr.bg, Veneta Nikolova, Margarita Dikanarova

Sofia region is going to, jointly with Pernik and Kyustendil municipalities, promote their tourist packages on international tourism fairs, to which Bulgaria has been a traditional partner. The aim is to popularize this scenic part of Western Bulgaria, on its own merits, as an attractive destination with its own distinct image on tourist markets across the world.

The establishment of the ”Sofia Tourist Region” organization is the first step towards splitting Bulgaria up into several tourism regions. Thus Bulgaria will be promoted abroad not via individual resorts, hotels and national heritage monuments, as the practice has been till now, but via distinct tourist regions. Get-to-know the country tours, eco tourism and national heritage publicity tours will feature highly. Each region will be able to claim EU financing, based on approved projects.

”Sofia Tourist region” has on top of its agenda the tasks to develop sustainable tourism, create and launch a distinct tourist brand at international tourist bourses. Its founders from among local government, NGOs and business nurture the ambition to popularize the region as a destination of multi-faceted tourism.

“Sofia Tourist Region” is set to develop convention tourism, because Sofia is Bulgaria’s convention city, indeed!," says Vitan Ivanov, President of “Sofia Tourist region”.

“We’ll further pursue culture and eco tourism. Sofia lies in the foothills of Vitosha Mountain and the regional area is home to a host of mountains around Sofia, Pernik and Kyustendil. We are also planning to invigorate and expand spa tourism. Vitosha Mountain, overlooking the capital city, offers excellent skiing and other winter sports conditions. I don’t know of any other capital city in Europe, which is only a 20-minute drive from skiing facilities. Hence the priority we plan to give to skiing. The quality of hotel service in Sofia and its suburbs is very high and in certain cases even beats the services offered in our leading ski resorts. Presently, Sofia City Council is busy diversifying the attractions in the region. Our first public appearance will be at Spring-2009 bourse in Moscow, where we will display attractive tourism offers for Sofia, Pernik and Kyustendil," explains Vitan Ivanov.