The City of Charlottesville, Virginia and the Municipality of Pleven, Bulgaria were paired together as part of the new City-to-City partnerships established under Phase IV of the Bulgaria Resource Cities Program (BRCP) because of their commitment to economic development and tourism. The City identified tourism and economic development as its focus areas and plans to use theCharlottesville model as the basis for their own economic development. Program goals include improving economic development and tourism by developing a financial feasibility plan for the business information center; developing a strategic model for attracting foreign investment toPleven; and developing a tourism marketing plan. Secondary areas of cooperation include public infrastructure management and training.
In the area of economic development, Charlottesville and Pleven completed a financial feasibility plan for the business and information center including a library, hotel, business incubator and a convention center. Concept plans and base maps were prepared and the city has been identifying sources of possible funding and deciding on the most appropriate allocation of these funds with the maximum return on investments. The Municipality of Pleven conducted a survey of existing businesses and banks, the results of which will provide the municipal leadership with the necessary information to identify the economic sectors in which Pleven seeks to attract investment. The Bulgarian–American Credit bank committed to assisting Pleven by providing credit opportunities to potential investors from Bulgaria and/or from abroad. Pleven prepared an economic profile of the community as well as marketing information necessary for foreign investors. The partners discussed options for the development of the existing industrial zone and plan to review vacant and underutilized sites in order to identify possibilities for reuse through public private partnerships. Information about available plots and facilities in Pleven can be found at the Local Economic Development website, www.invest.bg.
The Pleven team developed a tourism marketing plan to be implemented in stages beyond the framework of Phase IV of the BRCP. The Municipality encouraged broad community participation in the development of a tourism strategy. Pursuant to their tourism goals, Pleven created a destination profile and a tourism webpage, and is collecting data on cultural monuments and tourism sites. They identified foreign markets for tourism and have created a new tourism advisory board representing the Municipality of Pleven, tourist attractions, hotels, tourist agencies, local businesses, the High School of Tourism, and media. The City of Pleven held a meeting of travel/tour operators in Bulgaria and participated in an international tourism fair in Sofia. A hotel tax has been established, which will be used for tourism advertising and marketing. The Municipality declared the year 2004 as “The year of Tourism in Pleven.”
The Bulgaria Best Practices Symposium was held in Varna, Bulgaria in June 2004. Pleven presented their work to colleagues and guests and the LED specialist from Pleven spoke about the participation in the Hannover Trade Show. The Municipality was awarded “Best Interaction with the Business Community’ for its work through the LED program. Pleven was certified as a Business Ready Municipality after undergoing a rigorous simulation inspection and meeting all of the criteria for certification in the LED Consortium program, and their LED specialist was certified as such for the period of one year.