site.btaBulgaria Bids for Member of UN World Tourism Organization Executive Council

Caretaker Bulgarian Tourism Minister Ilin Dimitrov has written a formal letter to UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili presenting Bulgaria's bid for member of the UNWTO Executive Council for the 2023-2027 period, Dimitrov's Ministry said in a press release on Wednesday. 

The term of office of four European members of the Executive Council: France, Italy, Portugal and Turkiye, expires in 2023, and Russia has left the organization. A vote on the five Executive Council vacancies will be taken at the 68th  Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Europe (CEU), which will be held in Bulgaria in 2023.

The 35-country Executive Council includes 10 European countries. Thirty-four countries are elected for four-year terms, whereas Spain is permanently represented on the Council.

So far Bulgaria has been member of the Executive Council in 1982-1985, 2004-2007, 2010-2013 and 2013-2017.

The Ministry describes Bulgaria's bid as yet another proof of its ambition to increase substantially its international partners' awareness of its vision of regional and global policies and processes in tourism, which is a key sector for the global economy. "At the same time, the election of Bulgaria as host of the 68th CEU Meeting is an act of unqualified support at the highest institutional level by the most renowned cooperation format in the sector," the press release reads.