Bulgaria's cultural and tourist landmarks are estimated at 100 billion euro, said Roumen Draganov, head of the Institute for Analysis and Assessment in Tourism. Draganov was attending Thursday an international conference on "Developing Cooperation between
Bulgaria and Cyprus and the Role of the Media" in Nicosia. The conference, organized by the Bulgarian News Agency and the Cypriot News Agency, is marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and
Cyprus.
Draganov said that 18,900 Bulgarians visited Cyprus in 2009. Surveys carried out by the Institute indicate that Cyprus is thefourteenth most popular tourist destination for Bulgarians.
Some 22,357 Cypriots visited Bulgaria in 2009, down from 27,000 in 2008. According to Draganov, the fall is due to the economic crisis. Some 2,000 Bulgarians visit Cyprus every month, Draganovsaid. A third are visiting family and friends, as 37,000
Bulgarians work in Cyprus.
For the first five months of 2010 the number of foreign touriststo Bulgaria rose 10 per cent, while travels by Bulgarian tourists abroad dropped by approximately 20 per cent. An increase of about 8 per cent in the number of foreign tourists to Bulgaria is projected for 2010, reaching 8.5 million.
However, data by the Institute show that the number of domestic travels have dropped. A campaign, "Bulgaria: Heaven for Bulgarians", was launched in 2007, but there are not enough promotional activities aimed at Bulgarian tourists. Nearly 240 municipal tourism strategies provide data only about foreign tourists' visits.
Institute experts estimate that some 980,000 people visited the St Alexander Nevsky cathedral in Sofia in 2009, turning it into the most popular tourist spot in Bulgaria. The Rila Monastery ranked second, with 720,000 visits, followed by Tsarevets Hill in Veliko Turnovo, with 370,000 tourist visits. The Bachkovo Monastery was visited by 330,000 tourists, Perperikon and Tatul historic sites, by 240,000 tourists, the Troyan Monastery by
180,000, the Belogradchik Rocks by 90,000 and Balchik, by 25,000.
Many historic sites such as the St Alexander Nevsky cathedral, the Tsarevets Hill and the Vitosha Park have no notarial acts and their owner is not known, said Draganov.

BTA