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The paper presents the results of the identified cultural and historical resources as a new opportunity for integrated development of the Trakia Tourism Region (the Thrace Tourism Region). According to the new Concept for Tourism Zoning of Bulgaria, adopted in 2015, the Trakia Tourism Region has he task to support the formation of a specialized regional tourism product, its marketing and promotion, but before that the region must first consolidate itself as a territory and a resource base.
A combined methodology has been applied in the study, including collection, processing and analysis of the information about the tourism region. It covers a series of activities in establishing the scope and the territorial consolidation of 35 municipalities in the districts of Plovdiv, Pazardzhik, Stara Zagora, Haskovo and Yambol; presenting the specialization of the region in cultural and historical tourism nationally and regionally; determining the resource base in terms of type, importance and property.
For identifying the touristic resource, a local database of over 500 sites has been used – a result of the study of municipality resources in the tourism region within the register of tourism attractions, as well as some own elaborations. The opportunities for integrated development of cultural and historical tourism have been studied and analysed, based on data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI), the municipalities and the Ministry of Tourism. The implemented idea of the Ministry of Tourism for the Trakia Tourism Region has been presented, registered in the National Tourism Register as a non-governmental organization founded on April 21st 2010 in Plovdiv.