Bulgarian Tourism Minister to visit Egypt next October, accompanied by a delegation of parliamentarians and tourism investors
Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Tourism, and her Bulgarian counterpart Nikolina Angelkova yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation between the Egyptian and Bulgarian tourism ministries, aimed at strengthening bilateral relations and the growth of the tourism sector in both countries. The signing took place in the Bulgarian city of Burgas in the presence of Ambassador Moayad El-Dalli, Egypt's ambassador to Bulgaria, and the governor of Burgas.
Dr. Rania Al-Mashat said the memorandum includes several provisions, among them cooperation in developing joint tourism products in the fields of cultural tourism, beach tourism, festival tourism, food (culinary) tourism and other types of tourism.
Al-Mashat referred to the official visit by Bulgarian President Rumen Radev to Egypt last March, during which he visited the Pyramids area, the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid and expressed his admiration for ancient Egyptian civilization. She also pointed to the visit of Bulgaria's Prime Minister to Egypt last year.
Following the signing of the memorandum, the two sides discussed the possibility of organizing familiarization trips between the two countries and promoting Egyptian tourism in Bulgaria, to highlight the diversity and richness of Egypt's various tourism products and types and introduce them to the Bulgarian people.
For her part, the Bulgarian Minister of Tourism revealed that she is due to visit Egypt next October at the head of a tourism delegation including the governor of Burgas, a number of members of the Bulgarian parliament from the Tourism and Aviation Committee, as well as a group of investors in Bulgaria's tourism sector.
She announced that the possibility of a tourism twinning between Alexandria in Egypt and Burgas in Bulgaria is being studied, adding that the matter will be discussed and prepared for in the coming period.
The Bulgarian Minister of Tourism expressed her interest in learning more about the structural reform program launched by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism to develop the sector, and in benefiting from it.
The talks also touched on the new aviation incentive program launched by the Ministry of Tourism and its role in driving more tourist traffic to Egypt, with the Bulgarian Minister of Tourism stressing the importance of such a program in increasing tourism to countries and expressing her country's desire to benefit from Egypt's experience in this field.
Separately, following the signing of the memorandum, Al-Mashat, in her meeting with the Bulgarian Minister of Tourism, called on the government to reconsider the travel advisories issued by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry for some areas in Egypt.
The provisions of the memorandum also include the exchange of information between the two sides on organizing and taking part in international events with the aim of promoting tourism products, such as the annual tourism exhibitions and conferences held in the two countries.
The Egyptian and Bulgarian tourism ministries also agreed to cooperate in a number of areas, including exchanging knowledge and expertise on developing tourism infrastructure in both countries, as well as exchanging best practices in sustainable tourism activities, taking into account all relevant social, economic and environmental dimensions, in addition to exchanging information on methods of developing tourism activities aimed at attracting tourist flows from markets such as China, Korea, Japan, India, Australia and the Americas.
It is worth noting that Bulgarian tourism to Egypt in 2018 recorded the arrival of about 21,000 tourists, up 153% compared with 2017, who spent about 148,000 tourist nights, an increase of 126%.
