# UNESCO summeruniversity

1. #UNESCOsummeruniversity Troyan, 27.07.2019 Stoyan A. Stoyanov PRoWay Communications Agency Festivali.eu

2. Festivals as a promotional tool for attracting tourists Good Practices and Initiatives

4. Festivals in bulgaria • More than 350 local festivals and gatherings per year • Most of them are regular and are family or community fairs once per year • They provide folklore music, dances, traditional food and beverages

5. Festivals in bulgaria

6. Festivals in bulgaria • The local festivals bring entertainment and joy to the people • They are good occasion for locals to see their families and friends • The small farmers and producers present their products and foods (sometimes they sell them)

7. Festivals in bulgaria

8. Festivals in bulgaria • The festivals are organized by local cultural centers – Chitalishte or by the Municipality • There are different types of festivals – Sabor, Panair, Praznik, Kurban – and it depends from the occasion, scale and region • The events are open to the external public, but sometimes they are not popularized in order to gather primarily family and village members

9. Festivals in bulgaria

10. Why the festivals are important for the sustainable local development • Often these events are the only occasion to see family and friends in the poorly developed regions of Bulgaria • The locals have the opportunity to popularize their region and products to the tourists • They sell their production and have potential clients during the year

11. Why the festivals are important for the sustainable local development • The locals establish and communicate their brand - Troyan – Rakia and Plum - Oreshak – Arts and Crafts - Banichan – Banitsa and Onion - KurtovKonare – Pepers and Tomato

12. Why the festivals are important for the sustainable local development

13. Why the festivals are important for the sustainable local development • They feel proud with their village, people and region • Redirection of the image of poorly developed farmers region to interesting site for the externals • Keep their history, music and arts

14. Good examples What are the preconditions for success: • Active local person/team who organize the event and involves the community • Unique brand/theme • Good marketing activities, incl. Mouth-to-Mouth

15. Good examples

16. Good examples What are the challenges: • No budget/small funding • No experience in events organizing • Lack of collaboration with the local authorities • Difficulties in attracting external visitors

17. Good examples What are the challenges: • Not enough attractions for the whole family • Insufficient conditions externals to feel the local hospitality – not enough places for eat and stay • Some of the festivals are unofficially restricted for other people

18. Good examples Festival of Plum and Rakia - Troyan

19. Good examples Festival of Wild Flowers – Smilyan, Rodopa Mountain

20. Good examples Festival ”Na Harmana” – Harmanly

21. Good examples Festival of Pepper and Tomato – KurtovoKonare

22. Good examples Festival of Traditional Food and Arts – MalkoTarnovo

23. Good examples Festival Rozhen

24. Good examples Festival Kada Boaz

25. The future • Developing initiative to popularize the authentic and well organized festivals • To attract urban people to join and visit local festivals • To work with the organizers professionally to “sell” their festivals and to offer enough for the whole family

26. The future • We create - The Culinary Festivals of Bulgaria Facebook page - Festivali.eu – The Festivals in Bulgaria

27. The future • We choose 5 pilot festivals to promote and work with their organizers • We are in active communications with sponsors and local authorities • We establish media network for popularizing of the festivals

28. The future • We search for good experience from Bulgaria and abroad • We are open for partnerships • The next step is to open the Bulgarian Festivals to the foreigners

29. Thank you 