"Increasing the participation of business and civil society in the formation and monitoring of policies and legislation in the Tourism sector.

The project proposal is implemented jointly by the National Board of Tourism and the Ministry of Tourism in the Republic of Bulgaria. Its major goal is increased participation of citizens in the policy-making processes in the field of tourism, in particular the project focuses on setting up an organizational structure to promote Bulgaria as a tourist destination. Following in the footsteps of other European countries, this goal is to be made possible through the creation of a National Tourism Organization (NTO). As the creation of the NTO requires supplements to the existing law on tourism and the preparation of a draft law on amendments and supplements to the Law on Tourism in the Republic of Bulgaria, the project activities focus on: 1) ensuring expertise needed to make all the relevant actions for the creation of the NTO functioning model in line with the best practices in this area; 2) preparing a methodology on monitoring expenses which is to contribute to countering fraud and corruption practices and to favouring the transparency and visibility of spending; 3) ensuring legal assistance for the preparation of recommendation for changes to the legislation which is relevant to the project idea. In addition the project aims at encouraging the interaction between representatives of the business and non-governmental organizations, on the one hand, and the state and administrative structures, on the other hand, when it comes to policy-making. The successful implementation of the project will result in the creation of an organization structure with activities which will produces serious long-term economic benefits to the sector of tourism in this country and to the other economic sectors and the state as the increase in the number of tourists will lead to an increased consumption of goods and services offered on the Bulgarian markets.

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