site.btaNational Tourism Board to Mark 20th Anniversary with Conference in Sofia

A conference titled “Culture. Tourism. Communications.”, organized by the National Tourism Board (NTB) will take place Tuesday in Sofia. The forum begins at 11:00 am in the ceremonial hall of the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies. Caretaker Tourism Minister Irena Georgieva will attend as an official guest, the organizers said.

Among the invited participants are Bulgarian News Aggency (BTA) Director General Kiril Valchev, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) Director General Milen Mitev, Sofia Opera and Ballet Director Plamen Kartaloff, National Academy of Music Rector Prof. Sava Dimitrov, National Palace of Culture Director Andriana Petkova, Ivan Vazov National Theatre Director Vasil Vasilev, Aleko Konstantinov Satirical Theatre Director Kalin Sarmenov, Sofia Film Fest Director Stefan Kitanov, A to JazZ Festival Director Peter Dimitrov, as well as representatives of the tourism sector, academia and the media.

The event is part of a series marking the 20th anniversary of the National Tourism Board. The jubilee initiative is held under the motto “The Four Keys to Sustainable Tourism – Culture, Nature, Food and Innovation” and is organized in partnership with the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, BTA, BNR, the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, the University of Food Technologies in Plovdiv, the University of Forestry, the Bulgarian Convention Bureau, the Bulgarian Restaurant Association, the Bulgarian Tourist Union and the European League for Economic Cooperation.

In addition to Tuesday’s conference, the NTB has scheduled three more events this year: in April – “Tourism and Nature” in cooperation with the University of Forestry; in June – a jubilee gala evening “4 Seasons 4 You”; and in October – “Tourism, Food and Wine” in partnership with the University of Food Technologies in Plovdiv.

The celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the organization are held under the patronage of President Iliana Iotova and with the institutional partnership of the Ministry of Tourism.

The NTB is the only Bulgarian organization that is a member of UN Tourism, the World Tourism Organization of the United Nations, and represents Bulgaria in the Together for EU Tourism (T4T) expert group of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), the organizers said.