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Zaritza Dinkova: Tourism may and should be not just a shop window but a calling card, not just a reception but a front office for our country
Tourism may and should be not just a shop window but a calling card, not just a reception but a front office for our country. This was stated by the Minister of Tourism Zaritza Dinkova at the opening of the 8th edition of the Hotel Forum 2023 in Sofia. It was attended by over 400 hotel owners and managers, tour operators, representatives of airlines, airport operators and suppliers.
‘We want to work with every region, every municipality, every professional community to solve staffing problems, the crisis in staff training, the trap of average incomes, average quality and average results. As an institution, we also want to be useful to those who are currently creating new conditions, new services, new solutions. They are creating new projects and developing new sub-destinations. ‘Minister Dinkova said.
These policies can be supported with the adoption of the Programme for the financing of marketing activities of tourist services, which has already been launched on a pilot basis in the Black Sea municipalities, Minister Dinkova stressed.
‘This is a step towards an active partnership with you — the representatives of real business, with tour operators, with municipalities and airports. It will remove the burden of intermediation. We show political will to increase competitiveness and real development towards decentralisation,’ Dinkova said.
In her words, with the introduction of this programme, the Ministry of Tourism is responding to the European recommendations to Bulgaria to fight corruption, namely the proper allocation of funds for state advertising by taking real action. Minister Dinkova specified that this is also a decisive step to regain the trust of our foreign partners. The good news is that extremely positive feedback is being received, including from HTIF 2023 3 diplomats of countries representing important markets for our inbound tourism.
It should not be forgotten that tourism is also politics, the Tourism Minister added.
‘A powerful tool for soft state diplomacy. We see how successfully our neighbours use it. It is also a function of security. It is important to realise that diplomats from our most important markets are closely monitoring what is happening in the sector in our country,’ Zaritza Dinkova concluded her address.
