“No matter the numerous written regulations, no matter how the controlling institutions are observing them, if we do not have the mentality that we should keep the environment clean, friendly and tidy, we will never have cleaner sea tourism”. This was stated by the executive director of the Portal of the Bulgarian Municipalities – Kmeta.bg, Boyan Tomov, who was the moderator of the discussion "For Cleaner Sea Tourism", which took place in the building of Varna Municipality. The organizers of the meeting with representatives from the government, the local administration, the tourism and the business at the Northern Black Sea coast were the Ministry of Tourism, the Portal of the Bulgarian Municipalities – Kmeta.bg and the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (KRIB). The discussion was attended by the Minister of Tourism – Nikolina Angelkova, the Minister of Environment and Water – Neno Dimov, Varna District Governor – Stoyan Pasev, Mayor Ivan Portnih, Mayors of Municipalities, representatives of different organizations and tourist companies.
"The cleanliness of beaches and resorts, as well as in our homes, depends only on us, on our good will and culture. The Black Sea coast is what Bulgaria is proud of, so our campaign is aimed at achieving cleaner sea tourism. Maybe next time the initiative will cover mountain tourism", Tomov said. He emphasized on the high activity of the Ministry of Tourism and Nikolina Angelkova in person regarding the control over the execution of the concession contracts, but he also insisted that the cleanliness of the beaches depended not only on the administration and municipalities, but also on all those who use them – the people. "The biggest problems which sea tourism is facing in the regarding cleanliness are the inaccurate and partial implementation of separate waste collection and the wrong utilization of biodegradable waste from the kitchens. Hoteliers and restaurant owners are obliged by municipal regulations to do so, but they have difficulties in finding companies to sign contracts with, and also these activities increase in expenses", Boyan Tomov said.
