ABTTA SUSTOUR NEWS

Tourism Summit & B2B Еvent TOURIZMIR, Izmir, Turkey, 1 – 3 October 2015

ABTTA was invited to attend the International conference TOURIZMIR as guest speaker in panel The new global tourism trends.

In her presentation Mrs. Maya Philipova, Secretary General of ABTTA presented several initiatives of the organization aimed to increase competitiveness of the Bulgarian tourism.

Among the others SUSTOUR project and its aims there were presented before the conference. The delegates were introduced to the instruments used by ABTTA and other project members to support positive changes in corporate culture of their members – European system for sustainable tourism management TRAVELIFE. Finally, the delegates were invited to join the partners’ efforts and help raising the corporate social responsibility in tourism sector and increase overall tourism industry sustainability.

The participating Turkish tourism stakeholders showed great interest to the initiative; in his closing speech Mr. Basaran Ulsoy, President of TURSAB declared his engagement to promote the project and the system among TURSAB members.

Introducing CSR principles into the curriculum of future Bulgarian tourism professionals

On 26st October 2015 ABTTA conducted training on sustainable tourism in New Bulgarian University and present SUSTOUR project and training instruments of TRAVELIFE system.

The initiative became possible under partnership agreement between ABTTA and New Bulgarian University aiming to enhance the Bulgarian tourism sustainability through implementation of CSR principles into the curriculum of the future tourism professionals.

It is the third training ABTTA conducted in educational institues.

The first conducted training in Sofia University in 2015 was followed by the second one on 5 January 2016 which had received great interest and appreciation not only among the participating students but also among the attending professors.

First official Award ceremony for sustainable tourism competences

On 12th February 2016 during International Tourism Fair Holiday and SPA Expo 2016, Sofia, Bulgaria was held the first award ceremony for sustainable tourism competences of Bulgarian students.

The event, during which 58 students from Sofia University were awarded with personal Travelife certificate, is in compliance with ABTTA understanding of the responsibility of both the business and science to ensure high quality specialists in the tourism market.

Ultimately about 100 students from different universities enlarged their knowledge on CSR and sustainable tourism issues with the seminars, which ABTTA organized in the frame of SUSTOUR project.

The future tourism entrepreneurs in Bulgaria awarded with the prestigious Travelife certificate were congratulated by Mrs Stella Filipva, member of ABTTA Board of Directors and leading expert for International cooperation, and by Ass. Prof. PhD Vera Nikolova, Tourism Department, Sofia University.

Sustainability training for Bulgarian excursion providers

On 13 February 2016 ABTTA organized seminar on “Sustainable management of tourism supply chain. Marine, nature and mountain tourism excursion providers”.

The training was held in the frame of SUSTOUR project “Sustainability Training and Assessment in the Tourism Sector Project” in which ABTTA participates with tourism professional organizations from Holland, France and Turkey. The participants were introduced to the Travelife instruments for sustainable management and the newly developed standards for nature, marine and mountain excursions.

Increasing number of Bulgarian companies with Travelife Partner logo

Following the first certified in May 2015 Bulgarian company - Odysseia-in, 8 new Bulgarian tour operators received on official ceremony during ABTTA General Assembly on 26 February 2016 Travelife Partner certificate for sustainable tourism activities in the frame of SUSTOUR project.