Over 180 of the most influential representatives of the tourism industry from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland spent an exciting 3 days in some of the most beautiful places on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast

The large-scale three-day event "Erlebe Bulgarien"/"Experience Bulgaria", held in the period 5-7 June 2024, promoting Bulgaria as a preferred summer destination, passed with great interest and achieved exceptional success. It was organized and sponsored by the concessionaire of Burgas Airport and Varna Airport - "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD, the Association of incoming agencies in the country, Libena Bulgarian Hotels (Melia Hotels), with the support of the Ministry of Tourism, and in partnership with fvw |TravelTalk (Germany's most popular and authoritative travel media).

Over 180 influential representatives of the tourism business from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (travel agents, tour operators, and airlines), together with many representatives of the tourism industry, the local and legislative authorities from the Bulgarian side, met in our largest resort - Sunny Beach, where they had an intensive and fruitful program, with the aim of getting know the advantages that Bulgaria offers for attractive summer tourism.

On June 5, the participants from abroad arrived comfortably from Frankfurt to Burgas Airport with an Electra Airways flight organized especially for the event. They were greeted with an attractive water arch, balloons, vials with lavender oil, and aromatic roses from their Bulgarian hosts. We remind you that from Summer 2025 the Bulgarian airline will partner with SunExpress and very soon it is expected that 7 (seven) German routes to Burgas and Varna will be put on sale.

The event was hosted by Melia Hotels International Bulgaria, which sponsored the event as well. All participants were accommodated at Melia Sunny Beach, with the hotel demonstrating the extremely high quality of the product it offers.

On June 6, a conference was held at Sol Nessebar Resort, moderated by Klaus Hildebrandt (editor-in-chief of fvw|TravelTalk) and Dirk Rogl (Travel Commerce), where representatives of the tourism industry from Bulgaria and Germany shared information about the potential of the destination "Bulgarian Black Sea ”. The symbolic start of the conference was given by the Minister of Tourism - Mr. Evtim Miloshev, as well as the Mayor of the Municipality of Nessebar - Mr. Nikolay Dimitrov.

During the conference, the CEO of "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD - Dr. Frank Quante, and the Chairman of the Association of Incoming Agencies - Mr. Ivan Groshev, gave an extremely interesting presentation about Bulgaria, highlighting the advantages of the destination "Bulgarian Black Sea Coast".

All the representatives of the tourism business from the Bulgarian side who took part in the event - Victoria Valkova ("Albena" AD), Tanya Tsvetanova (Grifid Hotels), Mariyana Kostadinova (Melia Hotels International), Ventsislav Tanchev (Wave Resort) and Ivan Groshev (MTS Globe), presented the attractiveness of the destination and the excellent product that Bulgarian hotels offer.

Representatives of the largest German tour operators - TUI, Dertour Group, Vtours, Alltours, Schauinsland-Reisen, united around the opinion that our country has a huge potential to restore and even surpass the levels before the COVID-19 crisis, but for this purpose, timely large-scale advertising and marketing at the national level are necessary in order to improve the image and restore Bulgaria's position as an attractive summer destination for the German tourists.

The representatives of the airlines presented information on the connectivity between Germany and the two sea airports in Burgas and Varna, both for this summer season, and their plans and possibilities for increasing capacities for the upcoming year. In addition to the interesting and productive conference, the program of the event included a tour of Old Nessebar, a visit to hotels in Sunny Beach and Obzor, as well as a gala dinner with a special presentation of selected Bulgarian wines, revealing the potential of our country for wine tourism.  

In addition, a thematic workshop was organized for 50 travel agents who stayed in the country until June 9, having the opportunity to acquire even deeper knowledge and a detailed idea of the destination "Bulgarian Black Sea".

The foreign participants flew from Burgas Airport to Frankfurt on a specially organized flight of Fly Lili airline with the assistance of ICC (International Carrier Consult). We remind you that last month the airline launched charter flights from 12 destinations from Germany, Poland and Austria to Burgas Airport, as well as from Hanover to Varna Airport.

"The participants from Germany gave us overwhelmingly positive feedback on this event, no exception. It is clear we have to do this every year to bring back the tourism from Germany to the level of the past. I also want to mention the great collaboration of many partners who made this possible, a real teamwork! Thanks to all who contributed!”, shared the CEO of "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD and Chairman of the Management Board of Bulgarian Black Sea Alliance - Dr. Frank Quante.

"Thanks to the organizers and our colleagues hoteliers who supported and presented themselves at this large-scale event! Serious and long-term efforts will have to be made for the proper return of the Bulgarian tourist product to the German market. In this sense, this event set the stage both for the quality of the presented product and as a good example of interaction between all participants in the success of inbound tourism - tour operators, airlines, airports, hoteliers, and last but not least - central and local authorities.", stated Mr. Vesselin Danev, Chairman of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Hotel Association.

"With this event, we gained many new friends of Bulgaria. Most of the participants were surprised how there is such an attractive destination just a two-hour flight from Germany, and they were not familiar with it. "Experience Bulgaria" should be the beginning of a long-term marketing campaign on the German market. This event is one of the best investments in promoting Bulgarian tourism in Germany.", said Mr. Ivan Groshev, Chairman of the Management Board of the Association of Incoming Agencies.

“Many German travel agencies do not know Bulgaria as well as other destinations and in some cases do not know how the hotel industry and tourism infrastructure have developed. The participants of the event were very positively surprised and returned home with their new impressions as "ambassadors" of the Black Sea coast.”, stated Mr. Klaus Hildebrandt, Editor-in-chief of fvw|TravelTalk.

This large-scale event was part of the joint efforts of the concessionaire of Burgas Airport and Varna Airport - "Fraport Twin Star Airport Management" AD, and representatives of the tourism business from the country and abroad to promote Bulgaria as an attractive tourist destination.