The Bulgarian Tourist Union (BTU) is looking for money to renovate about 150 mountain huts and tourist sites, its chairman Ventsislav Venev told BTA. Renovating one site costs between €800,000 and €1.5m.

Venev was speaking at a regional seminar of tourist societies from the Yambol, Sliven, Burgas, Haskovo and Stara Zagora regions, held in room 107 of the municipality building in Yambol. Vasil Aleksandrov, deputy mayor of host Yambol Municipality, welcomed the participants. The programme covers marking and upkeep of hiking and cycling routes. Local people will be trained to mark trails to the standards used in Bulgaria. The seminar will also cover preparing trails for the seasons, bringing young people into the societies and the union's digital platform.

Venev says many huts, shelters and tourist dormitories have been left without care for years. "Sometimes nobody has paid attention to them for 35 years and no budget has been set aside," he said. Income from visitors and overnight stays does not cover upkeep. Some high-mountain sites are hard to reach. They get supplies by horse in season and by snowmobile in winter.

The BTU has sent proposals to almost every ministry for a programme to pay for huts, infrastructure and route marking. Several sites have been surveyed and costed. Sites along the E3, E4 and E8 routes come first.

One of the first to be renovated is the Planinski Izvori hut, which the union acquired recently. It stands on the ridge of the Balkan Mountains (Stara Planina) and is a stop on the E3 route (Kom – Emine).

"Sadly, the process is slow, but the infrastructure cannot wait," Venev said. He explained that earlier attempts with previous ministries failed because each one replied that the BTU is a tourist union and should go to the Ministry of Tourism. Venev now hopes minister Encho Keryazov, who is from Yambol, will pay more attention to the union.

Asked whether the money in the 2027 state budget will be enough, he said the union can work "with 2, with 200 or with 20 million".

The union has a digital platform for finding your way and planning hikes and routes. It holds information on huts, shelters and tourist dormitories, direct contacts and bookings. An interactive map shows tourist, natural, cultural and historic sights, with their location, opening hours, websites and weather.

For the societies, the platform will let them manage membership and documents. It will also carry event calendars open to the public across the country. The municipalities of Shumen and Hisarya want regional versions of the platform, which would bring together sights, places to stay, cultural sites and events in their areas.

The BTU is an organisation under the Physical Education and Sport Act, and 149 tourist societies are members. They run clubs for hiking, cycling, water tourism, ski tourism, caving and orienteering. The union's development strategy covers 12 years, and two have passed. Its goals are digitisation, more members and getting young people involved.

Young people's interest in the mountains has grown, Venev said. Many organise hikes through social media and sometimes set out poorly prepared. The aim is to bring them into the BTU's organised movement. He added that without the support of municipalities the union's work is very hard. He said the growing interest in the union shows that its standing is recovering.

The BTU also runs the "Know Bulgaria – 100 National Tourist Sites" movement, which turns 60 this year. About 220 sites are now part of it. Venev said other tourist and cultural sites want to join to be better known and attract more visitors. The union tracks interest in the national sites and sends proposals to the commission, but the decision is the commission's.

The National Coordinating Council reviews the proposals. It has 14 representatives of ministries, agencies and institutions, including the ministries of culture, education, tourism and sport, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR). The council meets twice a year, tracks visitor numbers and decides which sites to drop or add.