Odysseia -In

Being first!

Odysseia-In Ltd is the leading Bulgarian tour operator

a for-profit company specialising in adventure, cultural, eco, village and rural tourism.

the enterprise creates and sells original tours on the European and international markets.

high quality, authentic establishments for overnight, professional tour leaders and mountain

guides.

Active holidays Village life holidays Culture tours Nature tours

Hiking Biking Skimaountaneering Snowshoeing Horse riding Kayaking Paragliding Climbing Caving

Rural holidays

Explore the Balkans Heritage tours Monasteries Festivals Wine and gourmet Thracian culture Sofia Holy Mountains

Eco-trails Bird watching Bear watching Botany tours Geological tours

Just after the fall of communism, “Odysseia-In” became the first Bulgarian tour operator to offer sustainable adventure tourism.

The beginning was set in 1990 with the establishment of Odysseia-In from a group of innovators, inspired from their love for nature and adventure.

From then on the team develops and expires its activity, creating a stable structure: Bulgarian Association for Alternative Tourism (BAAT) and Association Mountains and People.

The enterprise has made significant progress in business and it is still the leader in Bulgaria.

Odysseia-In is a member of the biggest German union of small tour operators, specializing in sustainable tourism - Forum Anders Reisen.

It is recommended by many guidebooks such as: The Lonely Planet and The Rough Guideand it has good partnership with travel operators from USA, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Japan and other.

2007 – 2 677 000 BGN=1 369 309 EUR 2008 – 3 201 000 BGN=1 637 340 EUR

Founded the agency for adventure travels Odysseia-In in 1990

A couple of years later founded Zig-Zag Holidays and Bulgarian Association for Alternative Tourism

Enthusiast for the world's mountains. His numerous treks and climbs include regions like Pyrenees, Alps, Tatras, Pamir, and the Himalayas.

Accomplished photographer Lawyer by education mountaineer by convictions a voluntary PR of Bulgaria.

Momchil Damyanov - Mountain Guide experiences from a training programme for mountain guides in the Alps of France to leading more than 60 groups in all seasons

Nina Georgieva - Manager Reservations Department

Georgi Dimitrov - Product Manager graduated Tourism in Sofia University, keen

photographer

Zoritsa Stavreva - Mountain Guide leads the french hiking and cultural programs.

Irina Shalamandova - Contract Department

leading Spanish tours in Bulgaria, interests in photography, Bulgarian traditional folklore, and nature

Kiril Petrov - Mountain Guide Mihail Mihov – Mountain Guide Elitsa Maximova – Reservations

Department Georgi Mihov – Transport Department Tsveta Bilyarska - Product Manager

French Market a Masters degree in Tourism, accomplished skier

and keen mountaineer

•To turn Bulgaria into a leading destination for adventure tourism in Eastern Europe

To introduce contemporary standards for quality and safety of mountain equipment

Creating movies, posters and bilingual maps of Bulgarian mountains

Marking new, unknown mountain routes Developing soccially responsible and

sustainable tourism in numerous villages across the country

Introducing the profession of the mountain guide

1. Started a second tour agency “Zig Zag Holidays” in 1998 with the ambition to develop a new culture of travel and make accessible the mountains and deserts of the world to Bulgarian market

Today “Zig Zag Holidays is one of the most successful agencies with team building programms and destinations like Marocco, Jordania and Nepal

2. Started import and distribution of equipment for mountain hiking, trecking, climbing and travell, opened a store, called “The Wall” in 1997

3. Registered a publishing agency “Odysseia-In”

and started publishing guidebooks for guest houses, handbooks for mountain guides and travel literature

4. Organising photo-exhibitions and meetengs for people who love travel and mountain tourism

5. “Odysseia-In” donates over 1% of its annual turnover for socially important projects and causes

Member of Bulgarian Donation Forum 22.12.2006 – an award for corporative

contributor

Financing the Montain Guides Training Programme

Donating equpment for climbing and alpinist expeditions

Helping renovate numerous monasteries throughout the country

5% of sells go to the information compaign for Bulgarian Association for Biodivercity

Keep the Money Local

Create Job Opportunities

Protect Local Environment and Culture

Give Back to the Communities Visited

Innovations:

Sustainable usage of resoureses Sponsoring the development of local tourist

business in mountain regions The first company in BG to start working

with engeneers in reservation programmes The first to run trips with minimal impact on

nature and biodiversity Only company in BG with a person with the

duty Responsible tourism manager

Main difficulties in the innovation process To encourage people to start business in

remote areas of the country Make people believe in that kind of tourism Make largely unknown villages very popular

Lessons learned in innovetion process The key to successful busines is integrity,

faith, creativity, determination, coorporate ethics

Innovation helped “Odysseia-IN” to “stay alive” during the crises

Present economical crises The crises affected the firm mainly in 2009,

which was the most challenging year during its 20 yeas history

They expect better figure in 2010, due to the main markets of the company – France, Spain, UK, Holland, Germany

What helped them as well were the long established contacts with local business

Many of the office members are mountain guides themselves and are offen in villages and mountains

European firms, seting the rules on the market Explore Worldwide (UK) Wikinger Reisen (Germany) SNP (Holland) Tuareg (Spain) Mountain travell Sobek (USA)

Thanks for your attention!