Mayor Kostadin Dimitrov received the award from the Minister of Tourism, Miroslav Borshosh.
Plovdiv has been awarded this year's Bulgarian Tourism Award for Destination of the Year. During a ceremony in Sofia last night, the award was presented by the Minister of Tourism Miroslav Borshosh to the Mayor of Plovdiv, Kostadin Dimitrov.
"Plovdiv is a blend of history, archaeology, a rich events calendar, and people from different ethnic backgrounds living together in peace and mutual respect. Over the past year, we managed to open three archaeological sites to visitors – the Eastern Gate of Philippopolis, the Odeon, and the Archaeological Complex Nebet Tepe", said the Mayor of Plovdiv, Kostadin Dimitrov.
"Tourism happens in municipalities. The cleaner, better lit, and more organized a municipality is, the higher quality tourism it attracts," said Minister Miroslav Borshosh, highlighting the efforts of the Plovdiv municipality leadership in developing tourism. He also added that this autumn, the city will host a major event – the 9th Global Conference on Wine Tourism organized by the World Tourism Organization of the United Nations (UN Tourism).
Mayor Kostadin Dimitrov expressed his gratitude for the award, which is the latest in a series of recent recognitions. At the end of 2024, Plovdiv was ranked among the top 3 best places to celebrate New Year's in Europe by the professional tourism organization European Best Destinations, based on a survey of 102,398 travelers. At the beginning of 2025, the New York Times recommended Plovdiv as a destination to visit, and just a few days ago, the city was chosen as the Best Wine Capital in Europe for 2025.
The ceremony was followed by a discussion on the topic “Bulgarian Destinations for Bulgarian Tourists” between representatives of local authorities, the Ministry of Tourism, and the business sector. The event included the Deputy Ministers of Tourism, Irena Georgieva and Pavlin Petrov. The awards in various categories were presented for the seventh time, and the event was organized by Grand Hotels magazine in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism.