Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Tourism, met her Bulgarian counterpart Nikolina Angelkova on the sidelines of World Travel Market (WTM) London 2019, which concludes tomorrow. During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on ways to strengthen and develop bilateral relations, particularly through the memorandum of understanding signed last May for cooperation between the Egyptian and Bulgarian tourism ministries, with the aim of enhancing cooperation in the field of tourism in the coming period.
They also discussed ways to activate the provisions of the memorandum of understanding, which include cooperation in developing joint tourism products in the fields of cultural tourism, beach tourism, festival tourism, food (culinary) tourism and other types of tourism.
At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that the Bulgarian Minister of Tourism would visit Egypt in the coming days at the head of a delegation from the Bulgarian private sector, to work on activating the provisions of the memorandum of understanding signed between the two sides and to discuss ways of promoting tourism to Egypt in Bulgaria, in order to highlight the diversity and richness of Egypt's various tourism products and types and introduce them to the Bulgarian people.
It is worth noting that the provisions of the memorandum of understanding also include the exchange of information between the two parties on organizing and participating in international events to promote their tourism products, such as the large-scale annual tourism exhibitions and conferences organized in both countries.
The Egyptian and Bulgarian tourism ministries also agreed to cooperate in a number of areas, including developing tourism infrastructure in the two countries through a systematic exchange of relevant knowledge and expertise in this sector, in accordance with the rules and laws of both countries.
This also includes exchanging best practices regarding 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 tourists from distant markets, such as China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and the Americas, in accordance with the rules and laws of both countries.
The memorandum of understanding will help strengthen the implementation of the measures needed to support cooperation in the tourism sector between the two countries and boost tourist flows from other countries on the basis of pre-agreed terms, after coordination with the competent authorities, as well as the exchange of expertise in planning and implementing tourism projects, the exchange of information on possible investments that could contribute to developing the tourism market, the implementation of initiatives aimed at developing cultural tourism products and the facilitation of tourist visa procedures between the two countries, in addition to the exchange of expertise, capacity-building initiatives and other relevant information to promote the development of the tourism sector.
