The Bulgarian Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova announced that the country was granted the approval of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) to create a World Tourism Museum in Sofia.

Angelkova said that this was an excellent opportunity for country and Sofia Municipality had already expressed its support, while discussions on the museum's concept with the Culture Ministry were forthcoming.

The minister stated this in the town of Panagyurishte, where she attended the start of “The wonders of Bulgaria” campaign.

The forecasts of the Tourism Ministry showed that all initiatives on stimulating domestic tourism will contribute to maintaining the positive trend for the growth of the number of Bulgarians spending their holidays in the country.

According to the preliminary estimates, the number of holiday stays of Bulgarians in the country was expected to reach 3.3 million until the end of the year, which would represent an increase of 5 % compared to 2014.

Angelkova noted that since its establishment, the ministry has consistently worked towards stimulating domestic tourism.

She reminded of the campaign on the fifty less-known tourist sites, which was funded under the Regional Development Operational Programme.

The minister also pointed to the recently launched “Think you know Bulgaria?” campaign, which was a public-private partnership with the Embassy of Israel.

Angelkova added that the eight cultural-historical routes spanning the territory of the whole country were ready and the design of promotional materials popularising them was forthcoming.

In her words, the main focus in the policy of the ministry this and next year would be the cultural-historical tourism as the country held a great potential in this area.

The exhibition of Thracian treasures in the Louvre attracted an additional interest to Bulgaria and the forecasts predicted 5 % increase in the number of tourists to the country.

According to her, the Head of UNWTO Taleb Rifai said that Bulgaria possessed extremely good conditions for the development of tourism, but lacked advertisement.

Angelkova concluded that one of the goals of the ministry was to provide more funding on advertisement and make the brand “Bulgaria” more well-known and recognisable in the world.

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