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Deputy tourism minister: Bulgaria is more and more successfully developing as one of the preferred SPA destinations in Europe

Wednesday, Sep 28, 2016

cording to Eurobarometer’s data for 2016, Bulgaria is more and more successfully developing as one of the preferred SPA destinations in Europe, as 11% of the tourists in our country are practicing this type of tourism.
This is what Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Tourism Irena Georgieva said at the opening of the 3rd Congress of the Bulgarian Union for Balneology and SPA Tourism, which was organised at the Saints Constantine and Helena Resort close to the coastal city of Varna. The forum was held under the topic Prevention at Bulgarian SPA Resorts, the press office of the Ministry of Tourism announced.
The congress was attended by leading experts from Bulgaria, the European Spas Association, and nine other countries.
“Bulgaria is ranked second in Europe in terms of reserves of almost all kind of mineral waters. According to the experts, they are best for prophylaxis and treatment of more than 90% of the most frequently spread diseases, paid through a clinical path by the European health insurance funds and serviced by the pension funds.
This richness should be used more efficiently. That is why the Ministry of Tourism is consistently working on the development of SPA services,” Irena Georgieva commented.
The deputy minister explained that the first individual regulation on the conditions and order for certification of “balneological (medical SPA) centre”, “SPA centre”, “wellness centre”, and “thalassotherapy centre” to the Tourism Act, was already a fact. The regulation was published in the State Gazette in February 2016.
“The certification is voluntary but now only the sites meeting the requirements under the regulation can use the term SPA. Those sites that advertise themselves as SPA but do not meet the criteria will be sanctioned,” Ms Georgieva pointed out.
In her words, this measure will boost the competitiveness and help for outlining the representatives of the sector that make real and big investments and efforts.
The deputy minister explained that the process of certification of the specialised centres was underway at the moment. After the procedure is over, the approved sites will be included in the National Tourism Register. This way consumers will be able to check online whether the hotel or centre they wish to visit meets the requirements and can use the term SPA.

Source: www.focus-fen.net