Analytical Review of Heritage Tourism Development in Bulgaria
ANALYTICAL REVIEW OF HERITAGE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN BULGARIA
ABSTRACT
This paper combines reflections on my personal experiences of internship practice in Rome, Italy at one of the largest youth campsites, accommodating international travelleres to famous heritage tourism sites with an analytical review of the key trends and issues of the Bulgarian heritage tourism. I tried to clarify the meaning of the HT as a term and its dimensions as a SIT phenomena.
The paper provides analysis of the importance of HT for the Bulgarian tourism as a powerful industry sector and the benefits for the local regions. It also pays attention to the hidden potential of the communist heritage tourist resources as a new attraction tool for territorial diversification and new tourist itineraries.
Current HT development is examined as well, with regard to supply and demand and special emphasis is put on the future prospects for developing a new Strategic Plan for cultural heritage tourism in Bulgaria - Naples /Sofia, 2009.
Statistical data from the EU Analytical Report on the Attitudes of the Europeans towards Tourism – 2009 is used to illustrate tourists’ motivation and structure of tourist flows.
Key words: heritage, Bulgaria. tourism, culture, development, strategy
INTRODUCTION
Importance of HT
At the very beginning of this paper it should be emphasised that the Bulgarian Heritage Tourism cannot be analysed separately from Cultural Tourism. It only could be considered in the lights of the overall situation and trends in the cultural sector. There is not a special strategic plan for development of Heritage tourism in particular – it is woven into the global sector of Bulgarian Cultural tourism. In terms of Culture as a social phenomena it could be considered as to concentric circles:
- inner circle which represents the culture heart, i.e. more traditional or the basic elements
- outer circle which represents the lifestyle of the local population
ABSTRACT
This paper combines reflections on my personal experiences of internship practice in Rome, Italy at one of the largest youth campsites, accommodating international travelleres to famous heritage tourism sites with an analytical review of the key trends and issues of the Bulgarian heritage tourism. I tried to clarify the meaning of the HT as a term and its dimensions as a SIT phenomena.
The paper provides analysis of the importance of HT for the Bulgarian tourism as a powerful industry sector and the benefits for the local regions. It also pays attention to the hidden potential of the communist heritage tourist resources as a new attraction tool for territorial diversification and new tourist itineraries.
Current HT development is examined as well, with regard to supply and demand and special emphasis is put on the future prospects for developing a new Strategic Plan for cultural heritage tourism in Bulgaria - Naples /Sofia, 2009.
Statistical data from the EU Analytical Report on the Attitudes of the Europeans towards Tourism – 2009 is used to illustrate tourists’ motivation and structure of tourist flows.
Key words: heritage, Bulgaria. tourism, culture, development, strategy
INTRODUCTION
Importance of HT
At the very beginning of this paper it should be emphasised that the Bulgarian Heritage Tourism cannot be analysed separately from Cultural Tourism. It only could be considered in the lights of the overall situation and trends in the cultural sector. There is not a special strategic plan for development of Heritage tourism in particular – it is woven into the global sector of Bulgarian Cultural tourism. In terms of Culture as a social phenomena it could be considered as to concentric circles:
- inner circle which represents the culture heart, i.e. more traditional or the basic elements
- outer circle which represents the lifestyle of the local population
References: 1. Alkan, S.and Andreas, L. and M., Reimann S. (2005) “Cultural Heritage in Bulgaria” 2 3. Christou E. (2005) “Heritage and Cultural Tourism: a marketing focused approach” Sigala M., Leslie D. International Cultural Tourism – management, implications and cases. ELSEVIER Butterworth Heinemann, 2005 4 5. Council of Europe (2009) Regional Programme for Cultural and Natural Heritage in South East Europe 6 7. Europan Tourisem Trends and Prospects - Quarterly Report Q3 (2009) European Travel Commission 8 9. Naoi, T.and Iijima S. and Airey D. W. and Niininen O. (2007) “Towards a Theory of Visitors Evaluation of Historical Districts as Tourist Destinations: Frameworks and Methods” 10 11. Poria, Y. and Butler R. W. and Airey D. W. (2003) “The Core of Heritage Tourism” School of Management Tourism Research University of Surrey 12 13. Strategic Plan for Development of the Bulgarian Cultural Tourism Naples/Sofia (2009) Executive Summary by ANCE Campania 14. Survey on the Attitudes of Europeans Towards Tourism (March 2009) Analytical Report Fieldwork 15