Bulgaria tourism to be promoted at international trade fair

Bulgaria will push its tourism products in a big way at three international tourism exhibitions in European countries, which were launched this week.

The Feira International de Turismo (FITUR) in Madrid, Spain, is one of the year’s most important trade shows, a meeting point for tourism professionals from around the world, in which they establish lines of action, strategies and business alliances. It will run until January 24.

The country will also be represented with an information desk at MATKA fair in the Finnish capital of Helsinki and ITF Slovakia Tour, the most important tourist trade event in Slovakia and one of the most prestigious events of its kind in Europe. This year, it will take place between January 21 – 24 in Bratislava.

The economy, energy and tourism ministry has alotted BGN 3,4 M for promoting Bulgaria as an international tourism destination. The country will take part in 35 tourism fairs.

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=112244

Sofia Airport introduces flight status text service

Sofia Airport has had its share of weather-related chaos over the years, but passengers will no longer have to crowd the airport’s terminals or spend their time on the phone line trying to find out flight information. A new text service will provide that information, the Transport Ministry said in a statement on January 22.

Subscribers of all of all three Bulgarian mobile phone operators will be able to get the information about the arrival and departure of flights at Sofia Airport by sending a text message to 12211. The cost of one text message is 1.20 leva.

By texting the flight number to 12211, users will receive information on any particular flight, including the flight’s current status, expected time of arrival/departure, possible delay and the terminal it is expected to land at or take off from.

Sofia Echo Fri, Jan 22 2010 12:18 CET

Moody’s raises Bulgarian outlook to positive

Moody’s outlook on Bulgaria’s Baa3 sovereign rating has been raised from stable to positive. It’s the first positive rating action on an EU sovereign since July 2008. The positive outlook means Moody’s is considering upgrading the Bulgarian sovereign to Baa2. Such an upgrade is contingent upon the country’s ability to renew growth and weather the impact of regional shocks. “Moody’s expects the recession to end in mid-2010, although the problems in Greece will likely dampen the recovery this year,” says Kenneth Orchard, a VP in Moody’s sovereign risk group. About 9 per cent of Bulgarian exports go to Greece, and Greek companies are major investors in the country, particularly the banking sector. “The Bulgarian government’s finances were relatively resilient through the 2008-09 financial crisis,” explained Mr Orchard. “Despite a deep recession, Bulgaria will have very low budget deficits by global standards in 2009 and 2010, keeping government debt ratios low and stable.”

Financial Times January 21, 2010 10:39amby Emma Saunders

http://blogs.ft.com/money-supply/