Nearly 158,000 Italians visited Bulgaria in 2018

Sofia. Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelova held a working meeting with the Italian Ambassador in Bulgaria HE. Stefano Baldie. They discussed the partnership between the two countries in tourism and their active presence in UN World Tourism Organization (WTO) initiatives.

Italy is a very important market for Bulgarian tourism and our bilateral relations have long traditions, especially in the promotion of cultural and historical routes and sights, Minister Angelkova said. She said that last year nearly 158,000 Italian citizens visited our country as tourists, which is 15th in our ranking for inbound tourism, and assured the diploma that the agency is working consistently to increase their number.

Minister Angelkova invited his Excellency and the Italian Minister of Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Tourism, Jean Marco Centenai, to participate in the International Conference on Sustainable Investment in Tourism, which the ministry organized at the end of May this year in Sunny Beach. Special guest of the forum will be Taleb Rifai, General Secretary of the SOT from 2009 to 2017. Our goal is to present Bulgaria not only as an interesting destination for the four-season tourist card but also as a promising place to do business and offer high quality tourist services, she said.

Ambassador Baldy congratulated Minister Angelkova and her team on the results achieved and presented various embassy initiatives that could attract tourists. Among them is an exhibition about Leonardo da Vinci, which will be presented to the National Library "St. St. Cyril and St. Methodius "Sofia and in Bulgarian schools where Italian is taught. The interlocutors discussed the cooperation between Plovdiv and Matera as European Capitals of Culture in 2019.

Transfer Bulgaria Group serves preferential Italian tourists, providing them a secure and comfortable transfer or taxi from Sofia Airport to Sofia.