(ANSA) - SOFIA - The popularity of Bulgaria as a destination is constantly increasing and every year it is visited by more and more foreign tourists. This was announced by Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova, as reported by Novinite.com. In 2017, she said, foreign tourist visits exceeded 8,882 million and increased by 7,6% compared to a year earlier. An even higher growth of 9.3 per cent is recorded in the revenues from international tourism. In 2017 total revenues from the sector amounted to BGN 6.895 billion (nearly EURO 3.5 billion). In the last 2 years the average annual growth of tourist visits in the country is 12%, while data for the same period for the European Union is about 7%, Angelkova added, underling that two projects are currently underway. ''We expect to attract more visitors to the country and to increase visits in the active summer and winter season,'' she said. The Ministry of Tourism develops spa destinations, with the concept project covering 7 directions around the whole country. The Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry creates 12 wine-culinary destinations, the minister also informed. She explained that they include both traditional wine and typical cuisine for the region, as well as about 50 municipalities and about 100 tourist sites. (ANSA).