The State Agency for Tourism (SAT) will have more than 30.6 million euro to spend on promotional materials about Bulgaria as a tourist destination, news agency Mediapool reported on December 13.
This was announced by Georgi Stoev, an expert from the programming and monitoring department at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works. Stoev presented the latest changes in the operative programme Regional Development at a national conference in Sofia. It was devoted to presenting the various possibilities in which the European Union structural funds could be used in financing tourism in Bulgarian.
Under this operational programme, altogether 204.1 million euro have been planned for financing different tourism projects. The sum of 30.6 million euro is for the period 2007-2013 and funds will be allocated for the preparation of national promoting strategies and their media coverage around the country. International tourist fairs and printing of any promotional material needed will also be financed from the 30.6 million euro. Stoev said that the major beneficiary of the envisaged funds will be the SAT. Thanks to these funds, the SAT will also be able to carry out marketing research at a national level, as well as tourism statistical reports.
Municipalities will also be able to apply for funds for promoting their region, through another programme called Development of the Regional Tourism Product and Destination Marketing. For this programme, a further 30.6 million euro has been envisaged for the construction of information centres and reservation centres in smaller places.
The largest single sum has been planned for development of tourist attractions and related infrastructure – 143 million euro.
Municipalities will be able to apply, and they can also collaborate with non-profit organisations, Stoev said. Furthermore, archaeological monuments, old houses and other cultural and historical sites will be financed. Municipalities will also receive money for creating museum exhibitions, natural attraction sights and spa centers.
The operative programme envisages three million euro for development of Black Sea resorts, but since this is not a large sum, it will be spent only for small resorts that are not yet too popular with tourists. Major Black Sea and winter resorts and cities such as Varna, Bourgas, Sofia and Plovdiv will not receive funds under tourism programmes. Cities, however, will be able to apply for separate projects for urban development.
Stoev revealed that the criteria for applying for EU funds will not be approved earlier than July 2007. The final version of the operative programme will be sent for e-voting in Brussels in February 2007.
As the amount of funds to be spend on promoting Bulgaria nationwide was announced, news broke that the chairman of the SAT, Mario al-Djebouri, resigned from his post late on December 15. Later, on December 19, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev accepted the resignation after a conversation held between the two. According to some sources, al-Djebouri resigned because he “could not deal with the big games in the branch”, news agency Mediapool wrote.
The Bulgarian Tourism Union (BTU) said that in the tourist field there are many serious problems that must be solved. Such are the Black Sea and tourism bills, Natura 2000, and the question of national advertisement of Bulgaria as a tourist destination, as mentioned above. Thus, both the BTU and the National Tourism Board said that the new candidate for the position must be a professional with administrative experience, who would be able to solve these problems and communicate well with tourism representatives. ©TSE
