NATURA 2000-ALTERNATIVE TOURISM

Sofia, January 30 (BTA) - Natura 2000, the EU-wide conservation
sites network, gives the regions whose areas are included in it
a chance to develop, according to representatives of the
Environment Ministry and tour operators who offer nature
tourism. The meeting organized on the Environment Ministry's
initiative was attended by Deputy Minister Yordan Dardov and
experts of the National Service for Environmental Protection
Directorate.

The tour operators recently sent a letter expressing support for
Natura 2000 to Environment Minister Djevdet Chakurov. On
Tuesday, they stressed that foreigners and Bulgarians were
showing interest in nature tourism. They cited statistics
showing that 15,000 people use this service every year, and
another 15,000 buy combined package tours and go holidaying in
both resorts and natural sites.

Tour operators have noted an increase in the number of nature
tourists in the middle class and the elite. Most of them are
Europeans, and Americans have been coming, too, in recent years.
They spend their holiday hiking, mountain biking, riding,
rafting or kayaking.

A growing number of people visit a country to see a certain
endemic species. Mihaela Yordanova said a German client of her
tour operator company revisited Bulgaria because he could not
see the primrose in Mount Rila in bloom the first time round.
Other foreigners come to see the orchids in the Eastern Rhodope
Mountains.

These tourists are not a minority. In Britain alone there are
about 2 million people who have visited particular countries to
see certain species, said Lyubomir Popyordanov, Chairman of the
Bulgarian Association of Alternative Tourism.

The tour operators also said that nature tourists do not use all
inclusive services and the money they spend goes to the local
people who provide accommodation, local cuisine, arts and
crafts, and tours.

Margarita Kaisheva, owner of a tourist house, cited the latest
figures of BirdLife International, showing that the tourist
season in the wetlands of Prespa, Greece, now lasted all year
long instead of three months as before, and the ecotourism
services offered helped create jobs. BTA

Source: BTA