Alternative Tourism in Bulgaria Has Great Potential

Tourists from Europe, the US and Australia visit Bulgaria to watch endangered species from the animal world and rare plants and butterflies, Dobromir Domuschiev – a member of the Bulgarian Association of Alternative Tourism said.

Annually about 5,000 foreigners come to Bulgaria seeking to enjoy alternative tourism, as their number increases every year, he added.

By contrast to the average tourist who seeks a good hotel along the Black Sea coast and a place on the beach the client of an alternative tourism company prefers the wilderness in order to find a rare bird, flower or butterfly.

According to experts more and more wealthy people prefer this type of tourism.

Most of us do not see plants, animals and butterflies as a financial resource while in fact preserved nature can be a means for making money, says Andrey Ralev from the Balkani wildlife association who has been working in the alternative tourism sphere in the Rhodopi Mountains area since 2003.

People coming to watch birds in Bulgaria a very small percent of the total number of tourists but the money they spend in the country are more as the services offered are more expensive, Mr. Ralev added.

Currently this sphere is quite dynamic and every year the number of people visiting Bulgaria attracted by its nature increases a lot.

Usually, the people looking for this type of holiday are quite wealthy and their hobby is photography. Special tours are organized and holidaymakers are offered “shooting objects” depending on their interests – birds, mammals, plants, butterflies, dragonflies.

The most popular spots for alternative tourism in Bulgaria are the central part of Stara Planina Mountain, the Eastern Rhodopi Mountains, Sakar Mountain, the Shabla Lakes, Dourankulak and Srebarna, Cape Kaliakra, the Kresna Gorge, the towns of Melnik and Trigrad.

The tourists are mainly from Europe – the UK, Germany, the Netherlands. Denmark, as well as from France, Italy, and Spain, Dobromir Domuschiev added. There are also tourists from the US and even from Australia.

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