Bulgaria presented itself as a year-round tourist destination with increased interest by professionals and guests during the AITF international tourism fair in Baku, which took place last week for the 17th time.

This year Bulgaria was a partner country on the Azerbaijan international exchange. AITF is the leading international tourism fair in the Caucasus region. Bulgaria has demonstrated its cultural, historic, spa, wine, gourmet, summer and winter tourism opportunities with an info booth of 63 sq.m, organized by the Ministry of Tourism. The info booth was honored with an award at the show.

At the opening of the AITF the Deputy Minister of Tourism Irena Georgieva congratulated the participants on behalf of Minister Nikolina Angelkova and noted that our country has many opportunities for mass and specialized tourism of high quality.

The opening of the forum was also attended by Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization at the United Nations. The official guests of the ceremony were Bulgarian Members of Parliament - members of the Committee on Economic Policy and Tourism of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Personally, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Vice President Mehriban Alieva visited the info booth of Bulgaria. They spoke with the Bulgarian representatives and welcomed efforts to promote bilateral relations in the field of tourism between the state institutions and the business. Mr. Aliyev stressed that the two countries have friendly relations and noted that it is extremely important that they develop in the future. He noted the results of the visit of the Bulgarian governmental delegation headed by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in January this year. The President of Azerbaijan paid special attention to this year's direct airline Baku-Sofia and its role for developing bilateral relations and increasing tourists between the two countries.