During the past week two Bulgarian delegations visited countries of the Middle and Far East. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov with several cabinet ministers was on an official visit to China, and the Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova visited India. In both countries, the talks have confirmed Bulgaria’s growing to their potential as tourist markets.

In China, PM Borisov pointed to the boosting of tourism exchange as one of the government's priorities. A month ago, Borisov talked about increasing the number of Chinese tourists in Bulgaria with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a meeting in Sofia. The frequent mentioning of the tourist industry in bilateral talks has its reasons. Last year, Bulgaria was visited by about 16 thousand Chinese tourists, but although the number is modest, it grew by 13% compared to 2013. This year it is expected to increase by 30%, as some forecasts show the number of Chinese tourists visiting Bulgaria might exceed 200,000 in a couple of years. In view of this, opportunities are now being explored for the establishment of the Bulgarian-Chinese Chamber of Tourism, and joint tourism products are discussed with Romania, Greece, Turkey, Macedonia, Serbia and the Czech Republic to attract Chinese tourists.

Bulgaria is now in a similar situation regarding tourist exchange with India. Like with China, the tourist exchange with India is modest but it is growing quickly and is promising. Bulgaria’s Tourism Minister Angelakova met in Delhi with the Indian Minister of State for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma, as both agreed that measures to promote the tourist flow would be drawn up within months, together with representatives of major Indian companies in the industry. Also, planned is the opening of a direct airline connecting Sofia with Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Amritsar, which could contribute to a major breakthrough in the Indian tourist market. They also discussed the possibility of turning Bulgaria into an aviation hub from which Indian tourists could easily reach destinations in Western Europe and the US.

New developments are observed also in the tourism cooperation with Japan, defined by Bulgaria as a strategic tourist market. Soon a Bulgarian tourist information center is to open doors in Tokyo.

The Bulgarian government approaches the development of relations with the tourist markets of the Far East with the understanding that they are the future of tourism and, as the Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova said, it is worth the effort to start building good relationship with them now so we could bear richer fruit soon.

English Rossitsa Petcova