Bulgaria neglects its tourism

Bulgarian archaeologists have discovered a reliquary on the Black Sea island of Sveti Ivan which is said to contain parts of the skeleton of John the Baptist. While politicians are already rubbing their hands at the prospect of huge revenues from cultural tourism, former financial analyst and current monk Brother Nikanor appeals for more farsightedness: "Neither John the Baptist nor the thousands of shrines will secure us a flood of tourists. We will never catch up with Egypt, Israel, Italy or Greece because we lack the vision. ... We want everything to happen on its own, we want to wake up one day and be the top destination in cultural tourism. ... And what do we do? Just look at how little we make of the ancient city of Serdika in the centre of Sofia. Worse still - we nearly destroyed it to build an underground car park. This is the sad truth - the people with money couldn't give a damn about Serdika."

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