site.btaBulgaria Should Tap Potential for Climatic Tourism

Bulgaria has untapped potential for year-round climatic tourism in its mountain and seaside resorts. The missed benefits over the last 30 years cannot be calculated, but it is clear that with nearly 90 places designated as national climatic resorts, some of which have well developed accommodation facilities, the contribution of the tourism industry to GDP from good air alone would be significantly higher than the current 7-8%. The development of climatic tourism will extend the tourist season and revitalize a number of backward regions in Bulgaria, Valentin Atanasov, Chairman of the Board of the Association for Climate Treatment and Health Tourism, told BTA.

Saudi guests can be invited to a health-boosting holiday

Saudi Arabia and Bulgaria's neighbours Turkiye, Romania and Serbia could take healthy holidays; Bulgarians are also showing interest in them, Atanasov said. For a healing effect, such a holiday should last one to two weeks. In some resorts it could include mud, sand or forest therapy.

However, legislative amendments are needed if this niche is to develop. The Association has already proposed revisions of the Tourism Act aimed to add the climatic resorts to those of national importance. The Association hopes that a regular government will include this sector in national tourism advertising.

Air mapping

Тo promote this type of tourism, the Association proposes that the first digital map of climatic resorts in Bulgaria should be drawn up, hopefully by the year's end. The map will include the accommodation places which will be certified by the Association with the right to offer climatic holidays.

The creation of Bulgaria's first digital map of climatic resorts was one of the highlights of the Association's meeting with caretaker Tourism Minister Evtim Miloshev. Climatic resorts include SPA, mountain and seaside resorts. Nearly 90 climatic municipalities and regions in Bulgaria, many of them located in a clean and healthy environment, far from any economic activity, have been designated as such by the Council of Ministers based on Health Ministry proposals.

Furthermore, these are economically undeveloped areas and many of them, such as Strandzha in Southeastern Bulgaria, are in serious demographic decline. The development of climatic tourism will revitalize many settlements. For instance, there will be year-round employment, after additional training, for tourist and mountain guides.

Very few Bulgarians know about the existence of the local climatic resorts; almost no one knows that Burgas is a climatic seaside resort of national importance. Most climatic resorts were designated in the late 1940s and 1950s, above all in the 1960s and 1970s. Albena, Golden Sands and Sunny Beach were designated in 2012. Few people know that Berkovitsa was designated as a SPA resort of national importance by the Ministry of Health, Atanasov said.

Health tourism could regain lost ground

Before the 1989 democratic changes, sanatoriums in Bulgaria's climatic resorts were very popular not only with Bulgarians, but with people in Eastern Europe as well. With good advertising, this country could regain its position, especially in markets lacking favourable climatic conditions such as Saudi Arabia, which encourages people to seek health-improving procedures. "We could also expand the contract with the German health insurance companies to cover this type of holiday. This is conditional on amendments to the Tourism Act proposed by the Association three years ago regarding the introduction of the concepts of "climatic treatment" and "climatic resort", Valentin Atanasov said.