One Destination Two Countries

Project code:CB005.1.22.134
Project call:CB005.1
Priority axis / Specific objective:2.2. Increasing the cross-border tourism potential by developing common destinations
Type of project:Soft
Project duration in months:15
Project final contract amount:57740.97 €
Project EU co-financing rate:85.00 %
Project start date:21.03.2017
Project end date:20.06.2018
Project intervention field:075 Development and promotion of tourism services in or for SMEs
Project summary:

The general objective of the project is to realize the tourism potential in Haskovo, Bulgaria and Uzunkopru, Turkey by encouraging cross-border tourism and increasing international interest in the region.

The project activities iclude development of Joint Marketing Plan for the region,  trainings for Local Planners and Business, Destination marketing trainings for local business. Border tourism advertisement materials will be developed for promotion of the tourism in the region. Five short videos, web tools and mobile applications will be created, issue of catalogue and brochures is envisaged as well. Border tourism marketing campaign will also include social media marketing and International tourism fairs.

The project will contribute to the development of the tourism sector in the region by creating common destinations and a Destination marketing plan for  the cross-border tourism in Turkey and Bulgaria.

Project status: Finished

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

The general objective of the project is to realize the tourism potential of the region. The specific objective is developing border tourism which is a rising trend for international tourists.

In previous decades, tourism concept was going famous beaches of a single country. With the changes of technology, especially in networking, the concept of the tourism has also changed. Today people want to visit more than one country, recognize those countries’ cultural, historical heritage along with foods, national events etc. People also want to take photos of the trip and share them via facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc.

With that being said, Project Partners decided to promote cross-border region to stimulate people to visit Uzunkopru-Haskovo destination, raise the awareness of cultural and historical heritage, present local foods to target groups within the concept of the project “One Destination Two Countries”.

In this regard, partners decided to create new horizons for the target groups by showing the potential of the region. To do this, one must know the powerful areas, opportunities, weaknesses and threats for the region and create a plan out of it. Project partners, businessmen, local authorities, representatives of tourist centers gathered together to train themselves and promote the region with the information learned through trainings.

To reach maximum amount of people possible partners created social media account, web-site and programmed a mobile application.

 First, partners created enough promotional materials. 1000 Brochures, 1000 catalogues, 500 magnets. Following those, with the help of professionals, over 35 minutes long, documentary like videos of the region has been shot and designed which took almost 4 months.

The promotional materials alone were not sufficient. To stimulate the potential tourist, tour operators and entrepreneurs to visit, form tours or even invest in the region, those materials must have been presented via the best way possible, which is distributing them at one of the largely known international tourism fair: Berlin International Tourism Fair.

Partners rented a stand and distributed all the materials that have been prepared at that fair. According to official report of the tourism fair “10,000 companies and organisations from 186 countries exhibited their products and services to around 170,000 visitors, including 110.000 trade visitors”.

Project website:

http://bulgaria-turkey.eu

Social Media Presence

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/OneDestinationBGTR/

Project materials:

The promotional materials (magnets and folder) are available HERE.

Products from the project:

"Catalogue of crafts in the border region Haskovo – Edirne" (in three languages - Bulgarian, Turkish and English) is available HERE.

The project brochure is available HERE.

The Мarketing plan on cross-border destination marketing, including SWOT analysis is available HERE.

The presentations from the Destination Marketing Training are available HERE.

The mobile application "Utso Mobil" can be downloaded from the following address: For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=appbeta.utso.mobile&hl=tr and For IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/utso/id1356269977?mt=8.

5 video clips are available at the YouTube channel of Uzunköprü Ticaret ve Sanayi Odası: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnTcZyfZypRKT0CMIk_VHBQ. The video “Foods in Uzunkopru (Turkey)-Haskovo(Bulgaria) Region” is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcX9-5716Js. The video “Historical&Cultural Heritage in Uzunkopru (Turkey)-Haskovo” is available at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Bd7wvbKI8. The video "Presentation of Uzunkopru (Turkey)-Haskovo(Bulgaria) Region" is available at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSw3zFtMHhA&t=35s. The video “Hotels in Uzunkopru (Turkey) – Haskovo (Bulgaria) Region" is available at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPDft5Hs5RQ. The video “Events in Uzunkopru (Turkey) – Haskovo (Bulgaria) Region” is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtP1KTaetiQ.

Partners

Leading partner
Uzunkopru Chamber of Commerce and Industry
PP2
Haskovo Chamber of Commerce and Industry