Tourism in Bulgaria

This essay explores the tourism industry in Bulgaria, analyzing its growth, key factors influencing its development, and the role of government intervention. It examines environmental, socio-economic, and historical-cultural factors, highlighting the importance of accessibility, accommodation, amenities, and ancillary services. The essay concludes by emphasizing the government's crucial role in promoting Bulgarian culture and heritage to attract more tourists.

Tourism In Bulgaria

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is something which is playing a major role in the contribution of country's
economy (Harrison and Sharpley, 2017 ). The project report is laying its focus on the tourism in
Bulgaria- a Balkan nation. Bulgaria is a nation which is situated at the crossroads of East and the
West. The country is rich in the tourist sights and historical artefacts, that are scattered through a
relatively and easily accessible territory (Terziyska and Georgiev, 2014). The nation is
worldwide known for its seaside and winter resorts. Here, the UNESCO has included top
fourteen tourist places in the world heritage site in Bulgaria. The Black Sea Coast in Bulgaria is
really a diverse and has an eye catchy view. The coast is located on the white and golden beach
that occupies approximately 130 km. of 378 km. long coast (Ivanov and Dimitrova, 2014).
MAIN BODY
The tourism in Bulgaria is very rich. It is situated on the South-East of Europe and
occupies the eastern part of Balkan Nation. It is expanded from the Romania in the North to
Macedonia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in West, and from the Black Sea in the East
to the Greece in the South and South-East. The largest city in Bulgaria is Sofia and it's the capital
as well. Most popular destinations are along the coastline.
Statistics Related To The Tourism In Bulgaria
The number of tourists that arrive to Bulgaria from abroad increased by 3.8% year to year
(Kilimperov, 2016). In the year, 2018 the tourism got increased by 4.2% in the previous month
only. It includes hike in trips of all types :- Professional Trips (2.8%); Family Trips and other
purpose trips (4.7%) that includes guest and passing transit; holiday trips and recreation purpose
trips (3.8%). No. of tourists that arrived from outside were higher from Germany (3.9%);
Romania (1.2%), Poland (7.6%) and U.K (5.9%) (Costa, Panyik and Buhalis, 2014). Mainly, the
tourists got declined from Austria (1.8%); Italy (3.7%); Greece (0.6%). Bulgaria has registered a
growth of 7.3% in the number of foreign tourists for the period of January - November 2017. For
the last 11 months the country was visited by 84,25,620 foreign tourists. The maximum number
of tourists were from, Greece, Turkey, Macedonia, Romania, Germany and Russia (Stankova
and Vasenska, 2017).
More than, 10,60,000 tourists from the Greece has visited Bulgaria, and it shows a
growth of more than 8% as compared to the previous year in the last year. More than 12% of
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increase in the previous year was recorded from Turkey in the same period and to that of
Romania, were 10,54,170 in the same year (Dicheva and Kovacheva, 2014). Now, the number of
tourists from Germany were more than 8,53,120 and it shows an increase of more than 5% in the
number of tourists as per the statistics. Only in the month of November the total number of
foreign tourists, that visited Bulgaria were 3,99,517. By maintaining, this growth rate, in the
tourism sector, we are exceeding atotal of 9 million tourists on an annual basis (Kantarci,
Başaran and Özyurt, 2017). The tourism minister of Bulgaria, is saying that, by working hard in
the developing of tourism sector and by promoting the tourism of Bulgaria, we can achieve the
desired target of growth. Further, she added that, within one year, by continuing working on it,
Bulgaria would be transformed into a tourist destination (Shishmanova, 2015). The statistical
data also gives us the ability and the motivation to achieve the desired target of 10 million
foreign tourists who will choose our country for the purpose of spending holidays and travel.
Now, more than 6.3 Billion is the revenue generated from the International Tourism for
the 10 months in this year only (Dicheva and Kovacheva, 2014). This is the data as per the
Central Bank. In the year, 2017 from January to October, the growth recorded was 9.2% if
compared to the same period of last year. Bulgaria is such destination in which, a maximum
number of foreign tourists in the year 2017 were from Greece, which is one of the southern
neighbours of Bulgaria (Costa, Panyik and Buhalis, 2014). An increase of 1.157 million in the
number of Greeks, that have crossed the border, and an increase of 8.5% as compared with that
of 2016. An increased in revenue is much larger in respect of the number of tourists. The tourism
minister of Bulgaria, wants to attract numerous tourists who will be staying at the five star hotels
and will spend a lot of time.
Factors Affecting The Tourism In Bulgaria
There are five factors that are affecting the growth and development of tourism industry
in different ways:-
Environmental Factors :- These factors affect the growth and development of tourism
sector in the following two ways: (a) Good Climate; (b) Beautiful Scenery
Good Climate:- Climate is such a factor that affects the tourism sector the most. Pleasant
climate and warmth of sunshine plays a major role in the attraction of tourists who are arriving
from the temperate and colder regions (Toneva, 2017). On the other hand, people from the
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warm/hotter areas, migrate to the colder areas for the motive of seeking cold and fresh
environment. Climate of Bulgaria is temperate. So, of attracts people from all those regions, that
are warm/hot enough (Ivanov and Dimitrova, 2014).
Beautiful scenery:- Places with beautiful scenic view attracts the tourists who are travel
lovers. Tourism is also on boom when such type of places plays the role of picnic spots for the
tourists. Large number of tourists are attracted towards such places.
Socio - Economic Factors:- There are four important socio-economic factors that affects
or influence the development of tourism in following ways:-
Accessibility:- It plays a crucial role in affecting the development of tourism sector. All
the tourism sectors must be easily accessible by the various modes of transportation that
includes:- rail; road; air and water (Kilimperov, 2016). To enjoy the beautiful scenic beauty of
nature travelling by roads and rail is the best option. For reaching at the remote location of tour,
to travel by the airways is the best possible alternative and with this the time will also be saved.
The water ways are selected for a very limited time, reason being, until and unless a tourist
decides to travel and enjoy a luxury cruise and interested in visiting an isolated place
(Kilimperov, 2016).
Accommodation:- Place of stay of tourists must be good enough from where they can get
good accommodation and catering facilities. Now, the type of accommodation required, depends
on the standard of living of an individual; their life style; capacity to spend money; nature of
services expected (Terziyska and Georgiev, 2014). Classification of accommodation is done on
the basis of rating like:- five star hotels and below category with the motive of giving a comfort
to the tourists so that, they can make a proper choice and can plan their trip in that nation
accordingly. Tourism sector, generally, grows and prosper in those areas where, good lodging;
and boarding facilities are available along with the food facilities at a very reasonable price.
Amenities:- The growth of tourism sector is also influenced by the type of facilities.
Reason being, it also plays a major role in attracting the tourists in the country and also in
boosting the economy of a country (Terziyska and Georgiev, 2014). The tourists should be
provided with the amusement facilities like:- skiing; roping; tracking; paragliding; rowing;
fishing; surfing; safari adventure etc. and such type of facility should be provided by Bulgaria in
promoting and attracting the travel and tourism lovers.
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Ancillary Services:- A tour destination should be equipped with the ancillary or
supplementary services like banking and finance, internet and telecom connectivity for the
purpose of communication, hospital and insurance and so on, then, such a place succeeds to hold
more tourists for a longer time. In this way it helps in boosting the local economy to some extent.
Historical And Cultural Factors:- Most of the tourists are history lovers so they just visit
the places for purpose of studying or doing more research about that place. So, such types of
tourists are attracted to place of historical significance and have a legacy of knowing and
exploring the rich cultural heritage (Dicheva and Kovacheva, S., 2014). People love and explore
the destinations where there are famous ancient monuments and marvellous forts and castles and
also the palace of kings and queens of that time.
Government Intervention For boosting Tourism
The Bulgarian government should make some efforts for promoting the tourism over
there. The Bulgarian government should try to make some websites with the motive of
promoting the culture and heritage of Bulgaria over there (Costa, Panyik and Buhalis, 2014). The
government can try to organise some sports with the aim of developing the culture by earning
funds from there. Government can also try for promoting the culture by making websites and
displaying ads on TV's and internet.
CONCLUSION
The report is trying to make focus on promoting the culture and heritage of Bulgaria.
Statistics showing the increase or decrease in the number of tourists in the previous year. It
further focuses on the factors that are playing an important role in promoting and attracting more
and more of tourists in Bulgaria. Factors include:- environmental factors; socio-economic
factors; and historical and cultural factors. In the last, the report concludes by stating that,
significance of government and its crucial role in boosting the tourism in Bulgaria.
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REFERENCES
Books And Journals
Harrison, D. and Sharpley, R. eds., 2017. Mass Tourism in a Small World. CABI.
Terziyska, I. and Georgiev, G., 2014. WINE TOURISM IN BULGARIA: CHALLENGES AND
OPPORTUNITIES. InInternational Tourist Forum SPA and Wine, Blagoevgrad, publ.
by South-West University of Neofit Rilski.(pp. 30-35).
Ivanov, S. and Dimitrova, M., 2014. Managing Tourism in Bulgaria: between ‘Mission
Impossible’and New Hope.European Tourism Planning and Organisation Systems.2.
pp.87-105.
Toneva, P. I., 2017. Studying the impacts of event tourism on the host communities in Bulgaria.
Kilimperov, I., 2016. Weekend tourism in rural zones–the new tourist reality. Scientific Papers.
Series „Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural
development.16(3).pp.95-102.
Costa, C., Panyik, E. and Buhalis, D. eds., 2014. European Tourism Planning and Organisation
Systems: The EU Member States (Vol. 61). Channel View Publications.
Stankova, M. and Vasenska, I., 2017. Tourism destination competitiveness models. Tourism and
Travelling.1.pp.58-64.
Dicheva, M. and Kovacheva, S., 2014. BEST PRACTICES FOR ALTERNATIVE TOURISM
SERVICES IN BULGARIA.
Shishmanova, M. V., 2015. Cultural tourism in cultural corridors, itineraries, areas and cores
networked. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences.188.pp.246-254.
Kantarci, K., Başaran, M. A. and Özyurt, P. M., 2017. Understanding the impact of Turkish TV
series on inbound tourists: A case of Saudi Arabia and Bulgaria. Tourism
Economics.23(3).pp.712-716.
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