® National Association for Spa & Wellness Tourism NAST Bulgaria ______________________________________________________________ Sustainable Development and Competitiveness of Tourism in South East Europe 14th May 2014, Beograd, Serbia Stanimir /Stanley/ Stankov Chairman of NAST Board of Directors

WE HAVE A COMMON HISTORY, LET'S CREATE A COMMON FUTURE - CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE BALKAN SPA & WELLNESS INDUSTRY " BALKAN SPA SUMMIT Spa, Wellness, Thalasso, Thermal & Health Tourism Expo & Conference of the Balkan countries

THE BEGINNING The idea for ​​ Balkan Spa Summit was born in 2009 on the initiative of NAST. The idea was to get together the professionals from the Balkan countries and to create a strong organization with a rich past and brilliant future. Our region has huge natural resources and conditions for the development of Spa, Wellness and Medical Tourism industries, as well as has a long history and our civilizations are one of the oldest in the world. Each one of us has something in common with the other and this is a good reason for collaboration of the Balkan countries to build strong relationships in this industry. During BULSPA 2009, event organized in Bulgaria by NAST, we suggested this idea to the colleagues from Turkish Spa Association and Spa Managers Club of Greece attended the event. They welcomed the initiative with a great pleasure and warm support. This was the beginning. For two years we had a couple of meetings in Bulgaria and Greece and worked very hard. In this period we collaborated together for building the foundations, to constructing the project, created the vision, mission, main goals, website, logo etc. Thus we contributed to the successful organization and realization of the first Summit in 2011, to becoming it the most significant Spa, Wellness and Medical Tourism Event on the Balkan Peninsula.

MEMBERS OF THE ORGANIZING AND INITIATIVE COMMITTEE Stanimir /Stanley/ Stankov Dr. Ognyan Softov BULGARIA Stavros Mavridis Georgina Karella GREECE Prof. Dr. Zeki Karagulle Mehmet Kabas TURKEY

WHAT IS THE AIM OF BALKAN SPA SUMMIT ? We aim to come together on a regional basis and to give the best opportunities for establishment of partnerships between our Balkan countries in the Spa & Wellness business. The main goal of the organizing and initiative committee is to enhance the future cooperation between the Balkan Countries and to create a solid platform for development and popularization of Spa, Wellness and Medical Tourism Industries in the Balkan region through joining our forces together and becoming more competitive. Thus we will become more attractive and more profitable destination in the Hospitality industry. Making these joint efforts we will create a bigger regional Balkan market which will attract more investments and more interest of big producers, investors and tour operators.

1 st Balkan Spa Summit Bulgaria, Albena Resort, September 21 – 23, 2011

2 nd Balkan Spa Summit Turkey, Cesme Resort, October 04 – 07, 2012

3 rd Balkan Spa Summit Serbia, Arandjelovac, September 05 – 08, 2013

WE HAVE A COMMON HISTORY, LET'S CREATE A COMMON FUTURE - CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE BALKAN SPA & WELLNESS INDUSTRY

CONTACTS: Sofia, Bulgaria Tel Mob

TANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !