| Tourism on Agenda of Bulgaria-China Economic Talks |
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| Tuesday,July 03,2007 Posted: 16:02 BJT(0802 GMT) BTA |
Beijing - Tourism is among the topics discussed at the 13th
Session of the Bulgarian-Chinese Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technological Cooperation, which is under way in Beijing, Bulgaria's State Agency on Tourism (SAT) said on Tuesday.
Among many matters in the field of tourism, the sides are
considering Bulgaria's possible inclusion in Europe round-trip
packages offered by Chinese operators and Bulgarian travel
personnel training under Chinese programmes.
The Bulgarian delegation will ask to have their country included in the Memorandum of Understanding between the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and the European Community on Visa and Related Issues Concerning Tourist Groups from China. Bulgaria's possible inclusion in the Memorandum will give the country an Approved Destination Status (ADS). China awards ADS
to countries that fulfil certain conditions to enable them to
receive leisure tour group travellers from China. Destinations
that do not have ADS can still receive visitors from China, but
not leisure tour groups. This special status will give Bulgaria
access to the fastest growing outbound tourism market in the
world.
An ADS award procedure was conducted for Bulgaria in 2004-2005,
but no agreement was signed because the country would become
bound by EU-China agreements after acceding to the bloc in 2007. Bulgaria and China have not signed a bilateral agreement on
tourism.
SAT Chair Anelia Kroushkova is on the Bulgarian delegation to
Beijing, which is headed by Deputy Economy and Energy Minister
Anna Yaneva.
CNTA Chairman Shao Qiwei is involved in the talks on the Chinese side. In 2006, Bulgaria was visited by 4,536 Chinese tourists, and
China by 5,897 Bulgarian tourists (30.35 per cent up from 2005).
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Tourism is among the topics discussed at the 13th Session of the Bulgarian-Chinese Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technological Cooperation, which is under way in Beijing, Bulgaria's State Agency on Tourism (SAT) said on Tuesday. Among many matters in the field of tourism, the sides are considering Bulgaria's possible inclusion in Europe round-trip packages offered by Chinese operators and Bulgarian travel personnel training under Chinese programmes. The Bulgarian delegation will ask to have their country included in the Memorandum of Understanding between the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and the European Community on Visa and Related Issues Concerning Tourist Groups from China.
Source: BTA
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Bilateral Visits