Abstract:
Tourism is one of the most highly developed economic activities with a significant share of Bulgaria’s gross domestic product. Despite the presence of diverse anthropogenic and natural tourism resources throughout the country, tourism revenues in some regions can be increased. The main goal of the article is to evaluate the development of tourism in the provinces of the North Central region, where the number of accommodation facilities is significantly smaller compared to the rest of the country and it’s greater only compared to the North-West region – one of the most economically underdeveloped. The subject of the research are the tourist resources, the accommodation facilities, the number of tour operators and travel agencies and transport accessibility, as a prerequisite for the development of tourism in the provinces covered by the North Central Region. This publication traces which of the areas have the greatest potential for the development of tourism, as an opportunity to diversify the regional economy. The assessment made shows that their specialization is determined by their geographical location in two tourist areas, namely the Danube and Stara Planina. The development of the transport network and accessibility to resources is decisive for the attendance of the sites. In the North Central region, only about 9% of the accommodation places in the country are located, and 70% of them are low-category with 1 and 2 stars. About 43% of the beds are in the Veliko Tarnovo region, and in Razgrad and Silistra provinces they are the least – only about 7%. The measures that are recommended to be taken to increase the economic efficiency of the tourism activity in the region are related to the implementation of a more aggressive marketing and advertising strategy, participation in national and international tourist fairs, increasing the quality of service and the qualification of those employed in the tourism industry by province and regional level.