The Bulgarian hotel and restaurant business association (BHRA) nominated Veliko Tarnovo for a capital of culture tourism of the Balkans. This was announced yesterday by Blagoi Ragin, chairman of BHRA.

The nomination was discussed yesterday by the mayor dr. Rumen Rashev and billionaire Gasan Aidi, president of the International hotel and restaurant business association.

6% is the growth of tourism in Veliko Tarnovo for the first half of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, explained Daniel Panov, manager of the municipality tourism agency “Tsarevgrad Tarnov”. The overall growth for last year was 20%, and the data for this year is optimistic in the face of the international crisis, explained Panov.