Informes Sectoriales OP - Icex

TOURISM AND RELATED SERVICES IN BULGARIA
The tourist associations, in compliance with their statutes, shall:
• represent and defend the interests of their members before the respective bodies
of the central and local administration and of the local independent government;
• participate in the development of strategies and programs for development of
tourism on national scale, on the territory of the region and of the municipality
and assist their implementation;
• assist the advertising of the tourist product;
• assist the creation and functioning of tourist information centres or bureaus;
• assist the improvement of the professional qualification of the personnel engaged
in tourism;
• participate in the control over the observing of the normative acts in the
sphere of tourism;
• stipulate the professional ethics in tourism and non-admission of disloyal
competition between and regarding their members and approach the competent
bodies regarding the committed offences of the legislation.
Bulgarian Tourist Chamber (BTC)
A non-profit association established in 1990. The Chamber has commissions set up
for consultations in hotel and restaurant management, staff training, and economic
problems of tourist companies. Currently it has some 800 members - individuals
and legal entities. It has regional structures in the towns of Varna, Bourgas, Plovdiv,
Pleven, and Veliko Tarnovo. Member of the Bulgarian Industrial Association.
Bulgarian Association of Tourist Agencies (BATA)
BATA was established in 1992 as a non-profit association which represents, assists,
and protects the interests of its members. It takes part in the work of international
tourist organizations, co-ordinates and encourages the participation of its members
in national and international events. BATA is a member of UFTAA (World Federation
of Associations of Tourist Agents), Russian RATA, American ASTA, Portuguese
APAVT, Japanese JATA, Black Sea Tourism Co-operation (BSTC). It is the coordinator
for the issuing IATA - UFTAA cards for agent discount.
Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (BHRA)
The Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association /BHRA/ was established in 1993.
The major task of the Association is helping the development of the hotel and restaurant
management, as well as the tourist industry in Bulgaria. It works out programs
on developing the activities of its members and popularizes their achievements and
capacities in Bulgaria and abroad. It monitors the observing of professional ethics,
the principles of loyal competition between its members, and assists for raising their
qualifications. Today the BHRA is the union of hundreds of Bulgarian hotels and
some of the biggest privatized tourist complexes.
Bulgarian Association for Alternative Tourism (BAAT)
A non-profit association which assists the development of alternative types of tourism
- rural, agrarian, eco-, and mountain tourism; ornithology, religious, etc. It coordinates
the interests and the actions in forming and implementing the tourist
product of the respective alternative types of tourism.
Spanish Economic and Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy in Sofia 34