Joint Initiative for promotion of Bulgaria –Turkey cross-border region as an attractive tourism destination - JOINT TOUR

The project aims at increasing the regional tourism potential by promotion of the cross-border heritage as a joint tourist destination with variety of possibilties for tourism.

Project activities include conducting specialized research on the existing potential, the situation of the tourism sector and the existing restrictions. The survey's results will be used to set up joint integrated tourism packages for the cross-border region and a long-term plan to stimulate and promote the initiatives in the tourism sector. The subsequent activities are aimed at popularization of the regional image and increasing awareness about the destinations in the region among touroperators and tourists. For this purpose it will be provided joint awareness campaigns, including  development and dissemination of promotional materials, delivery and installation of pavilions at tourist information centers in Burgas, Yambol, Haskovo, Edirne and Kirklareli, as well as online promotion of the region through social media and Internet.

The project envisages organization of three promotional tours with the participation of tour operators, stakeholders, journalists, photographers and bloggers to raise awareness about the opportunities for tourism in the cross-border region Bulgaria - Turkey as a tourist destination.
The project implementation will increase the level of joint and integrated approaches to sustaianable tourism development and will create a positive image of the cross-border region of Burgas-Yambol-Haskovo- Kirklareli-Edirne as an attractive tourist desitnation.

Project status: Finished

The project partners have implemented the activities according to the schedule.

The project assisted the increasing of the regional tourism potential by promotion of cross-border nature, culture and history as a joint tourist destination with variety of possibilities for tourism. The partnering organisations managed to successfully build a cooperation among different Bulgarian and Turkish stakeholders by signing a common Memorandum, development of joint tourist packages and guidebooks, joint action plan and capacity for development of common destination and tourism products, promotion of the regional image and effective marketing with common brand, logo and slogan of the destination. The project achieved improvement of the access to tourist information for CBC region by instalment of 5 kiosks in the 5 districts in the cross-border region. Increasing awareness about the destination by cresting Joint Integrated Tourist Packages /JITP/ and promoting them among tour-operators, opinion makers, tourists by organisation of common events – round tables, promotional tours, press releases and social media promotion.

A survey about existing tourism resources, products and services based on natural and cultural heritage in CBC region was conducted by joint expert team consisting of 5 experts (2 experts in Turkey and 3 experts in Bulgaria) in tourism, regional development, culture-historical heritage. Evaluation and analysis of existing information and resources and a report/analysis was the base for developing of 2 joint integrated tourist packages including the most attractive thematic itineraries - one targeting local tourism market (Bulgaria and Turkey) and another targeting international tourists mainly Asian markets. The tourist packages are year-round combining different tourist services: natural and cultural attractions, transport, accommodation, food and other related services. 2 tour-guide lecture handbooks were elaborated.

A Joint Action Plan /JAP/, brand, logo & slogan were elaborated for the cross-border destination.

It will contribute for the recognition of the cross-border region as an attractive tourist destination with variety of tourism opportunities.  JAP is based on real resources ensured from project and approved strategic documents (National tourism strategies of BG and TR, regional and municipal development plans, tourism programmes, etc.).

5 touch screen kiosks were delivered in Burgas, Yambol, Haskovo, Edirne and Kirklareli, as a simple and effective way of allowing visitors to navigate large quantities of information. Kiosks provides comprehensive information to tourists on their need for planning their travel and stay in their chosen destination for 2 integrated packages.

Promotional tour is one tested and reliable promotional method. 3 guided promotional tours (each for 15 participants, 3 days) were organised in order to generate more interest than any other forms of promotion. A guided promotional tour was organised for 15 tour operators (30% of them working with Asian markets), journalists, bloggers, photographers, travel writers in order to promote destination. They elaborate articles for advertising the cross-border destination and tourist packages and publish it in special tourist edition.

Project website:

www.jointtour.eu/

Social media presence of the project:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/JOINT-TOUR-1929405403995576/

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/joint-tour-project-283191148/

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/jointtour/pins/

flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/153583966@N08/

MySpace: https://myspace.com/joint.tour/photos

Materials from the project:

The promotional materials (bag, banner, folder, magnet, pen, information board) are available HERE.

The Project Leaflet is available HERE.

Project products:

The Project logo is available HERE.

The Project Brochure is available HERE.

The Brand, logo & slogan of the cross-border destination Bulgaria-Turkey is available HERE.

Survey Evaluation of Local Stakeholders is available HERE.

The Tour-Guide Lecture Handbook "Tour Programme For Bulgarian and Turkish Local Tourists" is available HERE.

The Tour-Guide Lecture Handbook "Tour Programme For International/Asian Tourists" is available HERE.

The Joint Analyses “Tourism Potential of Burgas, Yambol, Haskovo, Kirklareli and Edirne Regions” is available HERE.

The Joint Integrated Tourist Packages for International Tourists, mainly Asian market are available HERE.

The Joint Integrated Tourist Packages for local tourism market (Bulgaria and Turkey) are available HERE.

Joint Action Plan of Bulgaria-Turkey Cross-Border Tourist Destination (Edirne – Kirklareli – Burgas – Yambol – Haskovo) is available HERE.

The Memorandum for Cooperation signed is available HERE.

Daily tours and 7 Daily tours were developed and are available at the following link: http://www.jointtour.eu/?page_id=528&lang=en.

Two promotional clips for Joint Integrated Tourist Packages were recorded and are available on the project website at the following link: http://www.jointtour.eu/?lang=en and on the YouTube Channel of the Programme at the following links: https://youtu.be/aTPlCp95XTw and https://youtu.be/rnCCIUcTxb4.