Sustainable Development of Cultural Tourism was the topic of the forum, which was organised by students and lecturers from the master's degree programmes in Cultural Tourism Management and Advertising and Public Relations in Business Management at VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar". Around the round table, gathered mayors of municipalities and directors of museums in Shumen region, experts in the tourism business, owners of hotels and guest houses.
An analysis of the world trends in the development of cultural tourism in the last ten years was made by Assoc. Prof. Georgi Kalaglarski. In 2019, over 624 million tourists traveled for cultural tourism - visits to museums, festivals, architectural landmarks, historical monuments, etc. More than 51 percent of them have visited Europe. But the benefits for Bulgaria, despite real but wasted opportunities, are very modest, even compared to neighbouring Balkan countries. There are two main reasons - there is a lack of trained managers to develop cultural tourism in our country, as well as non-use of the possibilities of digital technologies, said Assoc. Prof. Kalaglarski. The master's degree programme in Cultural Tourism Management provides real opportunities for training highly qualified professionals.
An analysis of the rich opportunities for the development of cultural tourism in Bulgaria was made by Prof. Evgeni Sachev, D.Sc. "Bulgaria is one of the cradles of world civilization" was his main thesis, which he argued with a series of pieces of evidence. Assoc. Prof. Rumen Draganov presented opportunities for overcoming unfavourable stereotypes and imposing new approaches. Specific analyses and proposals were made by the students from the master's degree programmes, who already occupy leading managerial positions in the field of cultural tourism.
Historical and cultural sites in Veliki Preslav, Pliska and Madara were visited.
Students and lecturers received an invitation to organise a forum on cultural tourism in Svishtov - "The city of the hundred first things in Bulgaria." Thus, the student from the master’s programme in Cultural Tourism Management, Asen Boyanov has synthesised his concept, through which he has been developing a successful business for years.