Presidential Candidate Boosts Tourism with new Strategy

Bulgaria will have a comprehensive strategy for the development of its economy, stated Rosen Plevneliev, ruling center-right GERB party candidate for the forthcoming Presidential elections.

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"A better infrastructure for the tourism industry, better planning and a better urban environment .. all of this is possible, but cannot happen piecemeal," said Plevneliev on a campaign trip to Pleven. In his visit, Plevneliev was accompanied by Bulgarian Parliament speaker Tsetska Tsacheva, who was elected as an MP from Pleven.

"I have made a personal commitment to work for the improvement of the business climate and that our country develops its Bulgaria Tourism Strategy," added Plevneliev, who before deciding to run, was Minister of Regional Development in the cabinet of encumbent PM Boyko Borisov.

Earlier Thursday in a visit to nearby town of Dolni Dabnik, the GERB presidential candidate estimated that Bulgarian tourism has already grown by around 6% for 2011. This is confirmed by official figures released by the Ministry of Economy which estimate that, for the year, tourism in Bulgaria will have grown by some 6 to 7%.

Related articles:
Tourist numbers up for start of 2011
Bulgaria's Summer Bookings up by 30 percent

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New Tourism Project - the Roman Emperors' Road

The development of the Roman Emperors' Road - a new international tourism project was the top focus of a meeting of Bulgaria's and Croatia's Economy Ministers in Zagreb on  27th April as part of a Bulgarian state delegation led by PM Boyko Borisov.

"Tourism harbours a great potential for Bulgarian-Croatian economic ties", said Bulgarian Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism, Traicho Traikov, and his Croatian counterpart Duro Popijac.

The Roman Emperors' Road is a major international cultural collaboration involving four countries - Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Serbia. It will promote cultural heritage from the Roman Empire period in combination with more modern practices such as spa tourism.

In Bulgaria, the itinerary includes Roman routes that are still in use today as major transport arteries such as the Danube River, the Sofia-Plovdiv-Svilengrad road and the Black Sea Panorama road.

Ministers Traikov and Popijac have hailed the 10% growth of Bulgarian-Croatian co-operative trade for 2010. Traikov remarked in Zagreb that Croatia's accession to the EU will ensure a further substantial boost in the exchange of trade and investments.

The two Economy Ministers further agreed that their respective energy companies will study the options for exporting Bulgarian electricity to Croatia. At Traikov's initiative the Bulgarian National Electric Company NEK and the Croatian NER will survey the technical and financial conditions for electricity trade. Croatia currently imports about 35% of its electricity.

Traikov and Popijac further underscored the importance of the development of the EU-sponsored Southern Gas Corridor for the imports of Caspian natural gas, creating liquefied natural gas terminals in Southeast Europe, and electricity grid connections.

Traikov and Popijac also opened a Bulgarian-Croatian business forum, while Bulgaria's Deputy Economy Minister in charge of tourism, Ivo Marinov, took part in a meeting of the joint Bulgarian-Croatian Tourism Commission.

In 2010, Bulgaria's trade with Croatia amounted to €117.6 million, 10% more than in 2009; Bulgaria was visited by 14186 Croatian tourists in 2010, also a 10% year-on-year growth; and Croatian companies invested a total of €38 million in Bulgaria in the period up to 2010

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Bulgaria Celebrates International Roma Day

Bulgarian Roma across the country will celebrate International Roma Day today. April 8th, the International Day of the Roma, is a day of celebration of Roma culture, history and traditions and also draws attention to discrimination directed against Roma and Gypsy communities around the world, calling for all human rights to be respected and observed.

The day was officially declared in 1990 in Serock, Poland, the site of the fourth World Romani Congress of the International Romani Union (IRU) in honor of the first major international meeting of Romani representatives held on 7th to 12th of April, 1971 in Chelsfield near London. Today, thirty years on, Roma communities from all over Bulgaria will mark April 8th with festivals, dance performances, concerts and tournaments, held in a number of Bulgarian towns and cities.

International Roma Day will be celebrated in several schools included in the 3-year program to reduce the number of Roma children becoming early drop-outs. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov will take part in the ceremony marking the day, which is organized by the National Council for Partnership on Ethnic and Demographic Issues, Chaired by Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov. The Speaker of the Parliament, Tsetska Tsacheva, will also be in attendance.

At a more formal level, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, recently issued an eight-month deadline on Member States to come up with their national plans for Roma integration and inclusion, while on 6th April, the US Ambassador to Sofia, James Warlick, lectured on Roma integration and ethnic tolerance in the Bulgarian Black Sea capital of Varna. The University in the central city of Veliko Tarnovo and the Roma Center "Amalipe" are organising an information campaign including the massacre of Roma in Nazi concentration camps during World War II and a photography exhibit.

The most wide-spread theory is that Roma first came to Bulgaria around the 11th-12th century through the Byzantine Empire. The mass influx that led to today's Roma population, however, began with the Ottoman rule, when many Roma arrived in the footsteps of the Turkish army.

For advice, assistance and information about Moving to Bulgaria, we recommend that you visit our website at MovetoBG.com - and for accommodation options, resources and services, we suggest Bulgaria Gateway