Travel Massive Sofia second event recap – Is Sofia tourist-friendly?

The second Travel Massive Sofia event took place on November 15th at Bar “Friday” in the Bulgarian capital. More than 50 Bulgarian professionals who work in the tourism field in the country attended the networking event.

Partners of the event were Bar “Friday” who kindly provided the space, as well as the videographers from Shape Style Studio who documented the second Travel Massive Sofia event. Photos were taken by Dian Yordanov Photography.

Here’s the video (credits: Shape Style Studio)

Panel Discussion – Is Sofia tourist-friendly?

The event started with a panel discussion: “Is Sofia tourist-friendly?”. The general opinion shared during the talk was that despite the many challenges Sofia has as a travel destination, tourists who visit the Bulgarian capital are pleasantly surprised and impressed by the diversity and opportunities that the city has to offer.

Participants of the panel discussion were Christine Milner, organizer of Sofia Restaurant Week; Stefan Ognianov, president of the executive board of 365 Association (Free Sofia Tour, Free Plovdiv Tour, etc.); Georgi Zahariev, owner of short-term rental apartments in Sofia.

All of the participants shared their experience in working with tourists which gave us a good insight about the tourist image of Sofia.

The participants also discussed which are the main drivers of tourism in Sofia and what makes the capital attractive in the last few years:

• First, that is definitely the rise of international low-cost flights from and to Sofia that gives the city easy access to many European and world destinations.
• The word of mouth of travelers who’ve already been in Sofia is also a very strong attraction factor.

Photo credits: Dian Yordanov Photography.

Are you in Sofia? Join the Sofia Travel Massive to be a part of the community and learn about upcoming events.

Maria Stoyanova is a travel blogger from Bulgaria and a freelance digital marketer in the tourism industry. She is a co-founder of the Bulgarian Association of travel bloggers.

Connect with Maria on Travel Massive and on travellingbuzz.com.