India and Bulgaria to Sign MoU to Promote Tourism

NEW DELHI: India and Bulgaria will soon have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a bid to promote tourism. The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of MoU between India and Bulgaria for strengthening cooperation in tourism.

Bulgaria is a potential tourism market for India as the latter received over 5,200 tourists from Bulgaria in 2017. The signing of the MoU with Bulgaria will be instrumental in increasing its tourist arrival from what is being seen as an important source market.

In addition to expanding bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector, the MoU also facilitates exchange of information and data related to tourism. The signing of the MoU is also likely to enhance cooperation among the different groups of stakeholders, including hotels, tour operators who would also be responsible for arranging exchange visits of tour operators, media, opinion makers for promotions of two-way tourism.

The two countries will also exchange experiences in areas of promotion, marketing, destination development and management. Fostering bilateral cooperation through film tourism not only helps promote the countries as attractive tourist destinations but also as safe and sustainable, according to the Ministry of Tourism.

In another effort to make India a popular Buddhist circuit destination, the Ministry of Tourism recently held the sixth international Buddhist conclave on the theme of Buddha Path - The Living Heritage. Delegates were taken for site visits to Aurangabad, Rajgir, Nalanda, Bodhgaya and Sarnath during the conclave.

Delegates from 29 countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mangolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Norway, Russia,...