The Minister of Tourism, Zaritsa Dinkova, is an official guest at the 8th Global Forum for Gastronomic Tourism in San Sebastian, Spain. Within the framework of the event, she participated in the panel: “Improving links between tourism and agriculture”.
Officials at the event are Spain’s Secretary of State for Tourism Rosana Morijo, World Tourism Organization Europe Director Alessandra Priante and World Tourism Organization Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili.
“Bulgaria has kept secrets since ancient times, when it was created. It is an interesting destination for the tourists who visit it. What we can offer is a legacy of centuries of historical and geographical overlap. Combining history and geography.
The meeting of different cultures is also reflected in our gastronomy. The specificity of Bulgarian cuisine as a mixture of these flavors is very colorful and rich with influences from the East to Central Europe,” said Minister Dinkova.
“A typical symbol of our country is the Bulgarian rose. We are a producer of the world’s highest quality rose oil, which is used in the most prestigious cosmetics. The Bulgarian rose captivates not only with its color and aroma. But we can also talk about the taste of the rose. It is also used in gastronomy as a food additive and decoration.
In Bulgaria, more and more diverse rose products are produced, which, in addition to being beautiful, fragrant and pleasant, are also beneficial for health. The pink color is present in more and more drinks and food products. This is an emerging modern culinary trend that we want to promote,” noted Minister Dinkova.
Bulgaria is one of the important producers of agricultural organic products, which makes the gastronomic product very valuable in hotels and country houses, which practice precisely the closed cycle “from the farm to the table”, Minister Dinkova added. Already 11 hotels have received the prestigious international “green key” standard.
These are, in addition to 4 and 5 star hotels in the high class of supply, as well as guest houses that are managed by families in more difficult-to-reach regions. It is extremely important for us to develop tourism in both directions and to politically support the offer of the closed gastronomic cycle, which brings added value both in terms of quality and jobs,” said Zaritsa Dinkova.
She specified that the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Bulgaria are working together to develop and advertise 12 attractive wine and culinary routes. Bulgarian gastronomy and winemaking have been declared intangible cultural heritage and this is how they are promoted to the world.
