Bulgaria has an unrealized potential to attract tourists from both the country and abroad for climatic tourism, which can be practiced in our mountain and sea resorts practically all year round. The missed benefits for our country over the past 30 years cannot be calculated, but it is clear that with nearly 90 places declared by the state as national climate resorts, some of which have a developed tourist accommodation base, the contribution of the "Tourism" sector ; in gross domestic product just from "air" of our country would be significantly higher than the current 7-8 percent. The development of climatic tourism will extend the tourist season, will revive a number of backward regions of Bulgaria, where some of Bulgaria's climatic zones are located.
This became known from an interview with BTA of the Chairman of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Association for Climate Treatment and Health Tourism Valentin Atanasov.
We invite guests from Saudi Arabia for a climate holiday
Bulgaria can welcome guests from Saudi Arabia, neighboring countries – Turkey, Romania, Serbia, the Bulgarians are also interested in a similar type of healthy vacation, said Atanasov. In order to have a healing effect, such a break lasts from one to two weeks. In some of the resorts, it can be combined with mud therapy, sand therapy, forest therapy.
In order to develop this niche in tourism, however, legal changes are needed. The Association has already submitted a proposal for changes to the Law on Tourism, which aim to include our climatic resorts in the national ones. However, the political turbulence led to the postponement of the consideration of the proposal. The Association relies on a regular government that would recognize the development of this sector and include it in national tourism advertising.
For the promotion of this type of tourism, the Association proposes the development of the first digital map of climatic resorts in Bulgaria for our country, hoping that this will be done by the end of the year. It is proposed to be accessible both from the website of the line ministry and through the website of the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria. The map will also indicate the accommodations that will be certified by the Association with the right to offer the "climatic holiday" service. and which will apply the relevant climate treatment program based on scientific developments of our higher specialized educational institutions. Another idea is to place billboards after the signs of the settlements where climate tourism can be practiced.
Mapping the Air
The creation of Bulgaria's first digital map of climatic resorts was one of the main highlights of our meeting with Minister Evtim Miloshev, but the idea was proposed to us during the time of the previous Minister Zaritsa Dinkova, who never took any action to they drive things, Valentin Atanasov pointed out. The idea is to jointly implement the map with the Ministry of Tourism, which will promote our national treasures. Balneological mountain and sea resorts are also included in these climatic resorts, added Atanasov. According to him, this resource, unique to our country, has been used and appreciated since the time of the Thracians and Romans, who knew the healing properties of air. As such - designated and announced by the relevant decisions of the Council of Ministers over the years, based on proposals from the Ministry of Health, are nearly 90 climatic municipalities and regions in the country, many of which are located in a clean and healthy environment, far from any economic activity , said Atanasov.
On the other hand, these are also areas with a weak economy and many of them - for example Strandja, are also experiencing a serious demographic collapse, commented the expert and added that the development of this type of tourism will lead to the revitalization of quite a few populated areas places in Bulgaria. Very few Bulgarians know about the existence of our climatic resorts, almost no one knows that Burgas is a climatic seaside resort of national importance. Last year, at a meeting with the mayor of Kotel, we introduced him to the goals of our Association and the fact that the city is a climatic national resort, Valentin Atanasov said. Most of our climate resorts have been climate declared since the late 1940s, 1950s, and most are in the 1960s and 1970s, with the most recent climate declared in 2012 being " Albena", "Golden Sands", "Sunny Beach". Not only do we know little about our climatic resorts, we are almost not aware of the balneological ones either. For example, few people know that Berkovitsa is a spa resort of national importance, declared by the Ministry of Health, said Atanasov.
We can expand the "health tourism" with the German cashiers
Before the democratic changes, the sanatoriums in our climatic resorts were especially popular not only among Bulgarians, but also among the citizens of Eastern Europe. With good advertising, a country can regain its positions especially in markets that lack similar favorable climatic conditions. Among them is Saudi Arabia, as this country encourages its citizens to look for exactly such health-restorative procedures, commented Valentin Atanasov. Other countries from which we would expect potential guests for climate tourism are Turkey, Serbia, Romania. We could extend the contract with the German health funds and with this type of vacation, which is, however, tied to the adoption of the changes proposed by the Association three years ago in the Tourism Act, where it is proposed to introduce the concepts of "climate treatment" and "climatic resort".
The science of climate healing
Together with the university "Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov" in Burgas, and more specifically with its Faculty of Medicine, it is planned to monitor the climate resorts in Bulgaria, which will give an incentive to the scientific research process in this area, which unfortunately was interrupted right after the changes, commented Atanasov. In the digital map of the climate resorts, we plan to include the opportunities to practice mud therapy, forest therapy, sand and sun therapy. In this way, the possibilities of each tourist area will be fully filled by offering health, rest and tourism, said the Chairman of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Association for Climate Treatment and Health Tourism, Valentin Atanasov. According to him, this will provide an opportunity for year-round employment after additional qualification for tour guides, as well as for mountain guides, because part of the climate treatment is also related to field walks in the relevant environment of the climatic region.