BULGARIA'S TOURISM SECTOR DOES NOT NEED ADMINISTRATIVE, BUT CONCEPTUAL REFORM: EXPERT

Bulgaria's tourism sector does not need an administrative, but a conceptual reform about the state's attitude to its tourist sites, cultural and natural sites and intangible cultural heritage, Rumen Draganov, chairman of the Institute for Analyses and Assessments in Tourism.
According to him the move would create jobs and boost local economies in the regions where tourist sites are public property.
"What the sector has been expecting from this administration in the past three years is a new Tourism Act that would take into consideration the attitude to public state property, more particularly tourist sites. This administration did not manage to do this. At the same time it deals with classification and registration – an activity that is unusual to the state and should be transferred to the Bulgarian National Tourist Organization, which should represent the hotels and restaurants classified under the Tourism Act and tour operators and tourist agencies registered under the Tourism Act," said the expert.
He described as innovative the decision to relocate the tourism portfolio of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism to the southern city of Plovdiv. However, he says, the decision will not generate any effect on the sector, because it is an administrative reform.