Sat, Feb 11 2012

43 million leva EU funds for tourism development - but Bulgaria has used none

Fri, Sep 18 2009 09:01 CET

byDnevnik.bg

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43 million leva EU funds for tourism development - but Bulgaria has used none

Karadere beach on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.

Photo: Nadezhda Chipeva

Bulgaria has signed contracts worth 43.473 million leva, or 63 per cent of the total funding for tourism development made available to the country by the European Union, but has not absorbed a lev.

This was announced on September 17 2009, when the State Agency for Tourism (SAT) and the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW) put pen to paper on the latest batch of contracts, with a total price tag of about four million leva.

SAT chairperson Anelia Kroushkova attributed the poor absorption to the fact that only public procurements have been held so far.

The contracts are signed under the Regional Development operational programme, which is financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

A total of 64 million leva has been earmarked for the implementation of a national tourism marketing strategy by 2013.

In 2008, the SAT sealed six agreements worth almost 40 million leva to advertise Bulgaria around the world.

Twelve public procurements have already been held, with one of them suspended due to a technical irregularity. Project implementation is scheduled to begin in 2010 and advertising campaigns are due to be launched in Germany, the UK and Russia.

Moreover, a TV campaign will air on multinational channels of three eight-week periods including at least three spots a day.

The country will be also advertised on local channels such as Bulgarian National Television, Nova Television and bTV.

Nearly two million leva will be allocated to the development of an official tourism website www.bulgariatravel.org.

Source: Dnevnik.bg

 

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