WHY WAS THIS MONITORING DONE?
The monitoring is a series of studies that are a mandatory part of the European Capital of Culture project. Each city holding the title organizes this prosses.
The research indicators are pre-set in the Bid Book. They comply with the criteria and indicators for the evaluation of an ECoC Project, as well as with its main goals.
The series of studies are performed by the external organization Analytical Consulting Group ACG Ltd.
WHEN WERE THE STUDIES DONE?
The studies were conducted in the period 2015 – 2019 and reflect trends and conclusions related to the economic effect, interest in culture, and image coverage of the European Capital of Culture initiative in the city and the country.
IDENTITY AND IMAGE IMPACTS
• In 2019, 85% of the adult population of the country already knew that Plovdiv has been chosen as European Capital of Culture (for comparison, in 2017, 57% knew).
• The number of visitors from Bulgaria increased three times, especially for visiting a cultural event or a site (in comparison, they were 10.7% for 2015 and 38.6% for 2019)
• In 2019, the share of Plovdiv residents who identify themselves as European citizens increased to 43.3%. In 2017, this share was 10% less.
• Direct partnerships with creative organizations and artists from Europe, with which Plovdiv
2019 worked on the fulfillment of the European dimension criteria of the programпе in 2019, which were over 130.
• The events with international participation have quadrupled compared to 2017. In 2019, they
were 80.
TRENDS IN CULTURAL ATTITUDES
• 1 215 696 adult citizens from Bulgaria (22% of the country’s population) and 32% of the region’s residents visited at least one event from the Plovdiv 2019 programme.
• The growth of visitors from the country is sustainable – from 28% in 2017 to 39% in 2019 (i.e. 2 million and 200 thousand adult citizens)
• Plovdiv residents who frequently visit cultural events are also growing, starting from 28% in
2017 to 40% in 2018 and reaching 44% in 2019. 60% of them visited an ECOC event.
• The most visited events were concerts, music events, and festivals, followed by theatrical events, exhibitions, events in Kapana Creative District.
• Nearly 2000 out of 3,632 interviewed visitors of a cultural event expressed strong satisfaction
with the content.
ECONOMIC EFFECTS AND TOURISM
• 1 215 696 adult citizens from Bulgaria have visited at least one event of Plovdiv2019 programme.
• A visitor spends an average of BGN 175 during his stay in the city.
• The amount of revenues from visitors from Bulgaria for cultural events in the last two years are
about BGN 400 million (excluding transport and tickets)
• The increase of foreign tourists is 27% (according to National Statistical Institute data i.e. only
for large accommodation), and nearly half of them are EU citizens.
• Overnight stays mark a sustainable growth of nearly 18%, and revenues from them increased by 9% and reached BGN 29 million (according to NSI data only for large accommodation).
• The registered enterprises in the ‘Culture, sports and entertainment’ sector in Plovdiv increased
by 25% and the number of employees – by 16%.
See the Final Monitoring Report in pdf here (Monitoring Bulgaria Bulgarian language )