Culinary temptations, similar lifestyle and culture and hospitability – this is what the Bulgarian citizens are finding during their visits to Serbia. Meanwhile, the Serbian tourists are welcome at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and in Bulgaria’s large winter resorts. However, Serbia’s tourism is not only gastronomy and hospitality and the Bulgarian potential in tourism is not limited to the summer vacations at the seacoast and to winter holidays in the mountain areas. That is why the top priority in the tourism policy is linked with the promotion of year-round interest in tourist services. All prerequisites are met for the purpose. Bulgaria is a member of the European Union and Serbia is walking with confidence on its path towards EU membership. The region managed to overcome the shocks of the 1990’s and is no longer Europe’s most troubled and insecure area.

Serbia and Bulgaria now have the exceptional opportunity to reach agreements of mutual benefit and interest. A serious step forwards is expected to be made in tourism this spring with the signature of the memorandum for cooperation. At a meeting of the EU Ministers of Tourism in Sofia in the middle of February Bulgaria’s Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova announced that Bulgaria and Serbia voiced willingness to partner in the developments of joint tourist routes directed to distant markets. Serbia’s Deputy Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Renata Pindžo also attended the meeting in Sofia. She unveiled together with her Bulgarian counterparts the biggest tourist fair in Bulgaria-Holiday &Spa Expo which partnered with another country (Serbia) for the first time in its thirty five year history. Bulgaria will return the favor next year at the Belgrade tourist exhibition (Beogradski sajam turizma). In Renata Pindžo’s words, the good neighborly relations have a very positive impact on the tourism ties between the two countries.

“Serbia and Bulgaria cooperate extremely successfully in all fields, especially in tourism,Renata Pindžo pointed out. We discussed in Sofia the text of the memorandum of understanding and will sign it in April or May this year. We also negotiated to organize a business forum between Bulgarian and Serbian travel agencies, hotel keepers and mayors of municipalities. We want to join efforts and develop a common tourist product directed to the Chinese market. Serbia is the only country in Europe which abolished the visas for Chinese citizens and we launched a direct airline to Beijing. On the other hand, Bulgaria has not joined the Schengen Area yet and can issue visas to nationals of China. We can develop two other projects within the frameworks of the European programmes for cross-border cooperation. One of them is linked with the development of the culinary tourism and the wine roads. The second project is connected with the cultural heritage of the Roman Empire. We will focus on the certification of the Orthodox monuments. When we receive a European certificate we will be able to offer a similar joint product to third countries. ”

Bulgaria and Serbia continue to present their opportunities in tourism to one another. Bulgaria participated successfully at the tourism fair in Belgrade which ended on February 25. Serbia will present its tourism in Bulgaria few more times this year, The Executive Director of the Serbian Tourism Organization Maria Labovic said.

“We expect a lot from the Bulgarian market. That is why we partnered Bulgaria at the Bulgarian - Holiday &Spa Expo in 2018 and we are proud of this. We organize visits of Bulgarian journalists and representatives of travel agencies to Serbia, in order to promote our tourist product. Last year we organized Serbia Days in Sofia. This year we are planning to do something similar, because we want to reach the end consumer of tourist services”.

According to statistics, in the past ten years the number of Bulgarians visiting Serbia increased three times. Official data of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia shows that in 2017 this country was visited by 91,233 Bulgarian tourists. On the other hand, Serbia is among the countries with the largest number of tourist visiting Bulgaria. Last year their number increased with more than 5% as compared to 2016 and exceeded 394,000.”

Written by: Krasimir Martinov

English version: Kostadin Atanasov