The first landmarks in Sofia that the hosts get him acquainted with are the St. George Church and the St. Sofia Basilica – the most visited sites by both foreign and Bulgarian tourists. Christian sanctuaries thrill anyone, interested in history and pilgrimage tourism.

A short advertisement video, ordered by Sofia Municipality for its foreign guests presents a route for tourists and visits of different landmarks and attractions in the capital city. A constant growth in the number of foreign tourists has been registered over the past years in Sofia, and the length of their stay has also been prolonging. According to data of the administration in 2014 the number of tourists in the capital went up by 7 percent on the previous year. Despite the lack of precise statistics on the revenues, from this tourist flow, those are expected to be larger this year on 2014.

According to a poll, held among citizens there is a wide support for the idea on Sofia’s becoming a leading tourist destination for this country. The Bulgarian capital city is a major industrial, transport and cultural center. As many as 17 percent of the population is concentrated there, along with 1/6 of Bulgaria’s industry. Sofia owes its top tourist destination rank to its authentic historical landmarks. Ancient sites can be found next to modern concert halls, an opera house, museums, art galleries, theatres, clubs, restaurants etc.

The dynamic development of the city over the past years has also provided many conveniences for business trips, professional and commercial exhibitions too. The administration of Sofia Municipality registers that tourists are mainly attracted by the cultural and natural landmarks of the capital city and its surroundings. The Spiritual Centers of Sofia’s Mount Athos – A Crossroad of The Inspired – that is the motto of a new project of the Municipality, aiming to attract the attention to mutually related spiritual centers, also spreading outside the big city. The new thing is that the project covers the entire region of Sofia and not only the capital city as a tourist destination,” says Deputy Mayor of Sofia Todor Chobanov.

“What we have already developed as the basics will turn into part of a constant tourist policy of our municipality. We will develop and upgrade these routes and we are convinced in the ongoing positive results. The Sofia Mount Athos (the group of monasteries around Sofia) is the connection of the capital city with the towns of Ihtiman and Svoge. It is to become part of a very interesting route, starting in Sofia and ending in Mount Athos, Greece. To begin with, we organize a big pilgrimage tour to our most important monastery – the Rila Monastery. Sofia has also been presented since recently online via the new information and communication channels on the Internet. There are simultaneous polls on the degree of satisfaction of foreign guests with the tourist products offered in Sofia”, says CEO of Tourism OP with Sofia Municipality Ivo Marinov.

“Germany, Greece, Great Britain, Italy, the USA, Israel and recently Turkey and Macedonia – these are the major markets of foreign tourists to Sofia. The improvement of the infrastructure around the landmarks is being considered. The information environment has also being improved. The campaign for placing information tables with steward codes is going on. We expect the greatest number of tourists in 2018, when Sofia will be a European Capital of Sport,” Mr. Marinov says in conclusion.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev