Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova at WTM 2017 in London

Minister Angelkova: Bulgaria is an excellent place for investments in tourism given its stability and low taxes

Bulgaria has a huge potential to develop different types of mass and specialized tourism and offers excellent conditions for investments in the sector, the Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova said at an investment forum before her colleagues from the participating countries in the international tourism show WTM in London.

The Bulgarian government turned tourism into a national priority and focused seriously on development of tourism infrastructure, she stated. Our country is becoming a much more attractive place for investment in tourism due to its financial stability and legal framework, fostering large investors. One of Bulgaria’s advantages is the 10% corporate tax rate and the 10% income tax rate , its political stability, GDP growth of 3.4% for 2016 (fifth place in EU) and second lowest GDP/debt ratio within the Union. Bulgaria is also famous for its fastest internet in Europe, she explained.

Minister Angelkova presented to her colleagues the map of Bulgarian investment projects in tourism, developed by the Ministry. It includes about 30 proposals to investors but their number could grow in the future. Among the objects of investment are parks, swimming and spa complexes, exhibition centers, etc.

Tourism growth in Bulgaria is higher than that in Turkey, Italy and France, according to the data of the World Tourism Barometer of the UN World Tourism Organization. Over the last 5 years on average Bulgaria has twice as high growth in tourist travel from abroad compared with the EU level and 7 EUR out of 100 EUR invested in the country were invested namely in tourism, Minister Angelkova stated.