The Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism has presented its annual awards in the tourism industry. During a ceremony at the Military Club in Sofia, the winners in 16 categories were announced after online voting, which took place in the period November 13 - December 5, 2018. A special video address to the guests of the event was sent by the President & CEO World Travel & Tourism Council, Gloria Guevara, in which she identified tourism as one of the fast growing industries in Bulgaria. The industry's contribution to the gross domestic product of this country for the past year is the seventh highest in the EU, she said.

Changing and improving services in each site is a key factor in the development of tourism and attracting new tourists. That is why many of the owners of popular sites are trying to offer new attractions to impress tourists. Their efforts do not go unnoticed and show the high quality of tourist products offered in Bulgaria. The annual awards of the Ministry are evidence of this and are a result of the dedication of each of you, Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova said.

This year's edition of the awards was also special for the team of Radio Bulgaria, as the Spanish-language editor Marta Ross was awarded in the category "Tourism Article about Bulgaria in an Internet Blog".

The article "5 wonderful excursions in Rila", which can be found in her personal blog, won the votes of Bulgarians, because of the sincere and genuine love for Bulgaria. What are the best places for a trip to the magnificent mountain? More from Martha Ross:

“Rila Mountain is really a very beautiful place, and the routes I am referring to are near the cave of St. Ivan Rilski, the Goritsa waterfall, Panichishte Lake, Resilovski Monastery and Stob Pyramids," Martha told us and added that these are very easy routes suitable for people with children. Excursions are short and usually take between one and two hours. One exception is the Stob Pyramids, as part of the route is a little dangerous.”

Competition in different categories has been particularly fierce. The Belogradchik Rocks, the "In Love with the Wind" castle in Ravadinovo, the ethnographic complex "Etar" near Gabrovo and the municipality of Sandanski, were only a part of the destinations awarded for the development of their tourist product in recent years. The municipality of Primorsko received the prize "Maritime Tourism Municipality" of the tourism ministry. The ultra-cross triathlon project "Lion’s Heart", which takes place on the territory of the municipality, was also awarded in the category "Tourist Event". Its organizer is athlete Philip Shavov. My temple is the mountain, and there I go to confess, he says, and adds that an important part of the preparation for the race is cleaning of the area with a perimeter of about 140 kilometers and the disciplines are:

“The disciplines are like those in any triathlon - swimming, cycling and running. Swimming is at a distance of 3 kilometers in the Black Sea bay of Perla; cycling is 116 kilometers-long in Strandja and there is 21 kilometers of running in the Ropotamo Reserve. More and more foreigners participate and according to them, what we have been doing in Primorsko is on a world level.”

The sporting events that have taken place in Bulgaria over the past few years have created a good image of Bulgaria in the world, which allowed tourism to recognize sport as an excellent marketing partner, Sports Minister Krassen Kralev said. For the second consecutive year Bansko Municipality received the award  for mountain tourism. The towns of Dryanovo and Velingrad have won the first places in the categories of cultural, historical and spa tourism.

English: Alexander Markov