site.btaWrap up: Bulgaria's Winter Season Message Could Be Holiday with No Restrictions

Winter holiday with no restrictions and the wealth of celebrations with the forecast for the winter also promising fine weather, could be the messages on the eve of the winter season in Bulgaria, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said at the BG TOURISM – WINTER 2022/2023 forum in the mountain resort of Bansko on Thursday. Valchev opened the event organized by BTA.

This is the second edition of the BTA's initiative for discussions to be held twice every year: at the beginning of the summer and winter tourist seasons, with representatives of state and municipal institutions, the tourism business, NGOs, academics and experts.

The next meeting, dedicated to the summer season, will be held along the Southern Black Sea coast, to be followed by one in Samokov, near the Borovets mountain resort, for winter season 2024, Valchev said.

Speaking at the forum, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) Director General Milen Mitev highlighted the growing role of the media in the choice of tourist trips and their responsibility. He pointed out that he was not speaking of overt advertising or manipulation, but about the media presenting the facts in a way that does not alienate people.

Mitev stressed the need for hotel owners to partner with Bulgarian food producers to overcome the currently popular practice of Bulgarian restaurants using mostly imported food products.

Ulen AD Director Maya Hristoskova sought support regarding the problem with the queues of skiers which form at the starting station of the ski lift. She drew attention to the fact that Bansko is an eco-resort where no plastic is used, there are no cars and there is a lift to avoid pollution in the forest. To her, the solution of having to wait for hours to access the mountain lies in the construction of a second lift. Ulen, the company running the Bansko skiing zone, presented a conceptual design for a second gondola in the skiing zone to the Environment Ministry in 2018. Environmentalists protested against changes in the management plan for Pirin and plans to expand the Bansko skiing zone into the National Park.

The Chairman of the Bansko Tourist Business Union, Malin Bistrin, requested the Unique Bansko Fellowship of Tavern-owners to be given the opportunity to apply for a Michelin Star. He sought the assistance of Tourism Minister Ilin Dimitrov, who was present at the forum, to contact Michelin so that Bansko could present its traditional cuisine. Dimitrov said that he would support the idea of the tourist business in Bansko and added that he would invite specialists to an explanatory seminar on the conditions of the Michelin Star standard.

The RE/MAX All Seasons branch in Bansko representatives shared their initiative to attract more tourists from Israel to Bansko via the company’s office in Jerusalem.