JOURNAL FOR SOCIAL IDEAS, POLITICS AND CULTURE

Vasil Velev Tourism in Bulgaria and the challenges of Globalization and European integration Vasil Velev was born on 17 February 1947. He graduated from the Sofia University in 1972, Faculty of Law. In the period 1973 - 1981 he worked as Deputy District Prosecutor and junior judge. In 1984 he graduated from the All Soviet Academy of Foreign Trade in Moscow, specialty - 'Economist on International Issues'. In the period 1984-1989 he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Commercial and Economic Section to the Embassy of Bulgaria in London. 1990-1994 - Head of Division 'Cooperation on International Law' to the Ministry of Justice. Chairman of the Committee of Tourism from 1994 to 1997. At present - law and business consultant. Member of the Board of the Bulgarian-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Dimensions in times of globalization become boundless, the journeys have no borders and the citizen becomes a citizen of the world. With the development of new communication technologies, Internet expands still further the horizons, removes restrictions, makes standards and norms equal. This creates unknown so far possibilities for contacts in all spheres of life - economy, politics, spiritual sphere, etc. In this connection particular role is gained by international tourism, as an important sector of world economy. Tourism today is one of the major factors for development, in the future this tendency being strengthened still further. In the last five years the international tourist travels, have been increasing by 4-5% annually, and the revenues out of them (without transportation) - by 7-8%. A drop in international tourism is observed only in 1991 as a result of the Gulf War and in 1993 - under the influence of the economic recession in the industrial countries which are the major generator of the national and the international tourism. In the new one hundred years there has been a decrease in some countries as a consequence of the terrorist acts in the USA in 2001 as well as in the countries affected directly by terrorism. After 1994 the economies of most of the industrial countries have come out of the recession period. In the period 1995 - 1997, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation, around 3% of GDP growth is registered in the member-countries. For comparison, according to data of the World Tourist Organization, for the same period of time, the international tourist trips have increased by around 4-5% per year, and the incomes out of them - by more than 7%. In 1995 the incomes of tourism in a world scale were 372 billion USD. For the first time a turnover of more than 1 billion USD is registered every day. According to the WOT prognoses, included in the report on the meeting of G-8 in Denver, Colorado (USA) in 1997, travels and tourism will turn into the largest industry in the world. This prognosis represents a special interest to Bulgaria, because it covers a period of 10 years, i.e. till 2007, when the country will be a European Union member. A proof for the reliability of this prognosis is the international statistics data for 2002, according to which a turnover of 5.4 trillion USD was made and 320 million job positions over the world have been opened. During the present 21st century the global economy will be driven by three super industries in the sphere of services: information technologies; telecommunications; travels and tourism (according to the above cited prognosis for G-8), which offer the potential for opening of over 100 million new job positions. This could be achieved upon fulfillment of two key conditions: Turning of travels and tourism into a strategic priority of the economicgrowth and employment. Drive towards open competitive markets, connected with the globalization of economy. The conformity with these conditions requires the solution of a number of problems as: eliminating with the obstacles for development and expansion and improvement of the engineering infrastructure; introducing of an automated system for customs and border control; reasonable taxation for incomes and export; investment in the training of the human resources; ensuring safety and security to the visitors, and etc. What is the situation in Bulgaria? According to the official data of the Ministry of Economy the year 2003 was a record-breaking one for Bulgarian international tourism - 3 531 000 citizens from abroad visited the country last year, which is an increase by 18% in comparison to 2002. The gains from the international tourism are 1 billion 622 million USD, i.e. by 21% more than 2002. These figures place Bulgaria in one of the leading positions in Europe in respect of the rates of growth in the sphere of tourism, the countries from the EU taking still larger position as to the number of those who have visited our country. These incomes, together with the internal BGN gains from the Bulgarian and foreign tourists, as well as from the Bulgarian tourists sent abroad and the incomes from the tourism related branches (transport, construction, agriculture, food industry, etc.) comprise a significant share of the GDP of the country (according to some statistics it comes to around 10%). Employees engaged in tourism are over 60 000 people, and another 180 000 participate indirectly in the trade with goods and services. More than 5000 families work in private hotels and restaurants as tourist operators and agents, in various productions of goods and services for the needs of tourism. These optimistic figures and data for Bulgarian tourism achievements have to be considered soberly and objectively, to analyze them under the conditions of the still further increasing globalization in the world development. Globalization has to be reviewed both as a phenomenon, causing a cruel competitiveness which is further deepening and the effect is not always a positive one for all countries involved in it. Commerce globalization for instance in the developed economic countries has led to the domination of the multinational distribution networks and hypermarkets. Analogical processes can be observed also in tourism. Large national tour operators are uniting themselves into large multinational concerns, covering the tourist activity in regions as Europe, Northern America, Asia, etc. The development of Bulgarian tourism under the conditions of globalization has to be in conformity with both the basic tourist tendencies over the world and the specific conditions and particular characteristics of the country as a tourist destination. This means: 1. Priority attention to the specialized types of tourism - rural, rehabilitation, ecological, cultural, business, hunting, and etc. Our country is rich in history, culture; it has a worthy contribution to the world civilization. It is enough to mention only the monuments under UNESCO's protection as well as the last archeological findings. 2. Unconditional quality of the tourist product and introduction of the European standards and governing systems. 3. Personification of the tourist servicing by significant improvement of the training and the professional qualification of the managers and the servicing staff. 4. Solving the problems of the national advertising and tourist agencies of Bulgaria in the countries - basic or perspective markets. The marketing and advertising problems should be solved strategically, by working out strategies and providing funds in this direction. Another group of problems, related to Bulgarian tourism under the conditions of globalization and European integration, which have to be solved, can be characterized in the following way: 1. To intensify the role of the nongovernmental sector, by continuing the process of decentralization by decrease in the state functions and increase in the role of the branch nongovernmental organizations, decrease in the number of licensees and increase of the control on the quality of the services. 2. For years ahead the question has been put forward for working out and implementation of a state tourism policy. A large number of the questions treated above have a direct relation to this problem. This policy has to be orientated to state support and strengthening of the nongovernmental sector. The state has a specific role which can be executed only by methods and means typical for the state rule. Unfortunately, there is misunderstanding as far as the problems for the development of tourism are concerned, linked to the social-economic situation in the country, bureaucracy and a strife to a 'strict' implementation of some requirements and agreements with the European Union and other international institutions. It is possible to achieve more flexibility such as is applied by the other countries during the fulfillment of the same commitments. The problem with the visas for the countries outside the EU and in particular the introduction of a visa regime with the countries of AIS (former USSR) is particularly complicated. This in practice has led to the collapse of the Russian market and its reorientation to other tourist destinations. Every year more than 20 million Russian tourists visit foreign states. Despite the official data concerning a new growth, the truth is that Bulgaria loses as a result tens of thousands of million dollars, which go to other states. The orientation of the Bulgarian tourism towards Europe should not be at the account of losing tourist markets which were traditional for the country. There are enough possibilities and approaches to solve this problem, without breaching the commitments to the EU, as done by countries like Turkey, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and etc. The concession of the conditions for travelling, part of which is also the visa regime, is an exceptionally important circumstance in achieving good results under the conditions of globalization and European Integration. The taxes , the tariffs and other state economic regulation techniques at the moment do not stimulate the tourist companies and objects. The VAT problem is quite difficult. Its solution will facilitate the taxation of the Bulgarian tourist companies, thus Bulgaria will be more competitive (total VAT 7% for all tourist companies, hotel owners, restaurant owners, tour agencies). Improvement of the tourism regulating normative base . Changes in the Tourism Act which will solve both the problems mentioned above and others with which this normative act will be in a situation to meet actually the challenges of globalization and European Integration are needed. Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, The experience of other countries, members of the EU for a some time now, shows that there has to be a clear state tourism policy in the process of Bulgaria's accession to the EU and involvement in the globalizing world. This has to be a policy, defining clearly the aims and the position our country would like to take in this world, in harmony with the national values which have to be maintained.
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