Foreign tourists are flocking to Macedonia to visit the Roman Empire route running through the archaeological sites of Stobi, Skupi and Heraclea, it was concluded at a meeting Tuesday of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) as part of the European Tourism Day in Brussels.
Representatives of the Tourism Chamber of Commerce of Macedonia are attending the 2016 edition of the European Tourism Day, organized by the European Commission, MIA reports from the Belgian capital.
This year the event is focused on enhancing synergies between tourism and cultural and creative industries. Macedonia as a country with rich cultural and historical heritage can contribute to the offers of a tourist product, according to Biljana Pejoska-Risteska.
“In order to be sustainable in the future, cultural tourism must be combined with other types of tourism, including eco-tourism, gastronomic tourism, etc. RCC has prepared analyses involving Macedonia, particularly its cultural tourism, which show that foreign consumers are interested the most in the so called Roman Empire route. Thus, the most visited sites in Macedonia are Stobi, Skupi and Heraclea,” the executive director of the Tourism Chamber of Commerce told MIA.
The RCC, Biljana Pejoska-Risteska said, has hired a marketing agency to monitor comments posted by the consumers themselves on social media. According to the comments, the Roman Empire route is the most sought after and most visited destination in Macedonia.
Macedonia is also part of another project of cultural tourism, i.e. Via Egnatia - a road constructed by the Romans that runs through territory that is now part of modern Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey.
Tuesday’s conference, which brings together some 400 participants, includes a political debate and an exchange of good practices on how to better exploit the synergies between tourism, cultural heritage and creativity for the competitiveness and sustainable growth of the European tourism sector.
