Dr Petar Iankov, PhD

Dr Petar Iankov

The beginning

The first real eco-tourism activities in Bulgaria started in the early 1980’s with the first groups from United Kingdom, visiting the country to do birdwatching. The start was given by a British family – Ann and Bob Scott from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), arrived in 1983 just to see the country, the landscapes, birds and, of course, the possibilities to expand this activity in the future. Contacts were made with the Bulgarian ornithologists and tourist companies and in the each of the following years single birdwatching groups from RSPB arrived on birding tours.

The development

The great potential of the Bulgarian Nature was quickly realised and the numbers of the groups started to increase. Two players started the process: the foreign birdwatchers and the Bulgarian tour operator, organising and facilitating their stay in the country. Soon another important player joined the activity: the British-Bulgarian Friendship Society (BBFS), which undertook the role of a Bulgaria’s birdwatching tourist ‘agent’, recruiting in UK people, interested in birdwatching in Bulgaria. The predominant part of the tourists come from the ‘pull’ of the RSPB members (over 1 000 000 people at present!). The fact that they are from one organisation, very well structured one, enhance quite a good flow of information about the birdwatching in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian tour company (only one state firm at that time – ‘Balkantourist’) itself mobilised its capacity and started to find ‘birdwatching partners’ in other countries than UK. In parallel with this, after the changes in 1989 new private companies appeared and find their profile in the field of the birdwatching tourism. At the end of the day the numbers of the birdwatching groups increased from 1-2 annually at the beginning to more than 30 during the last years. It should be mentioned, that there are many other factors except Nature, which determine the development of the eco-tourism. During the period in question the social and economic factors in Bulgaria were far not so favorable, otherwise the increase of the numbers of the groups would be much bigger.

As already mentioned, the first group was from Great Britain, but from the very beginning Bulgaria was visited by eco-tourist groups from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, USA, Italy, France, Japan, Malta, Sweden, Finland and others. If at the beginning only one state company was organising the tours, at present at least 10 companies are involved in this activity. The present tendency is for very rapid increase of the demand, of the requirements of the tourist market and of the standard of the services. Bulgaria still has enough of the key and most rare element in demand – the rich and well preserved wildlife.

The world of birds

There are several favorable factors, making Bulgaria very attractive birding destination. First of all, the very rich diversity of bird species: over 410 species, which is about the half of the bird list of Europe! Second is the occurrence of ‘exotic’ species, which stir mass birdwatchers’ blood: Wallcreeper, Roller, Hoopoe, Bee-eater, and even Red-backed Shrike. In addition most of them are still really numerous. Third is the presence of bird species, for which Bulgaria is one of the very few countries in Europe, where they can be seen: Levant Sparrowhawk, Paddyfield Warbler, Pied Wheatear, Semi-collared Flycatcher. Another ‘secret’ is the easiness of the birding: no walking more than few hundred meters from the bus and birdwatching really from the road. Even Wallcreeper, Red-breasted Goose or Eagle Owl could be watched virtually from the window of the coach. Having in mind, that most of the eco-tourists are people over 60 years old, this is a great advantage!

From birds to plants

Starting with birdwatchers in 1983, the tourist groups coming to Bulgaria became more and more diverse. At the beginning, the tourists from the birdwatching groups started to be interested in the other elements of the wildlife, which were abundant at virtually every visited place. It was natural they to tend to maximise the pleasure and knowledge by trying to see as much as possible interesting plants, insects and other animals. As it could be expected, the orchids and butterflies were the first ‘extras’ in this respect. Soon it became quite well known fact amongst the British people, that Bulgaria provides great possibilities very easy to see rich numbers of plants and animals at one site. So, besides birdwatchers, special groups were formed of so called ‘nature lovers’, and they started to visit Bulgaria with the aim to observe not only birds, but also other wildlife, and especially flowers, butterflies, amphibians, reptiles, some mammals. Soon after ‘nature lovers’ specialised groups of ‘botanists’ started to come more and more often. Their interest was entirely orientated to the wild flowers and other plants. The fact of the very rich Bulgarian flora, of the abundance of Balkan, Bulgarian and local endemic species, was of special importance for these people. ‘Botanists’ were followed by ‘pure’ ‘butterflies’, ‘dragonflies’, ‘bats’ and even ‘brown bears’ tours, of ‘photographic’ tours, etc.

Links between IBAs and ecotourism

The nature conservation requirements and the high expectations of the tourists led to the necessity of finding the optimal way of doing the birdwatching trips. The main formula was ‘maximal numbers of bird species together with minimal efforts (walking, claiming, etc.) and with minimal pressure on Nature’. During the development of the itineraries to fit with this formula, it appeared that most of the places, which correspond to the requirements, were IBAs. The IBAs concept includes preservation of not only birds, but of the whole ecological complex of the site, as birds are connected with the other elements of their environment. And preservation of birds is impossible without preservation of the plants or animals which they use for food, for nesting, hiding, etc. Just this circumstance made IBAs attractive not only for bird lovers, but also for amateurs of insects, plants, reptiles.