Local people pick roses during the Rose Festival in Karlovo, Bulgaria.[Photo provided to China Daily]

SOFIA－Chinese and Bulgarian officials in the Bulgarian capital on April 28 voiced hopes to boost tourism cooperation, promising to make full use of the countries' unique resources.

At the opening of the conference of the "EU-China Tourism Year 2018: New Investment Opportunities for the Tourism Sector in Bulgaria", China's ambassador to Bulgaria Zhang Haizhou said: "Today's seminar reflects the strong desire of the Bulgarian side to tap its potential, improve its services and expand its market in tourism so as to attract more Chinese tourists."

He says Bulgaria "has rich, unique tourism resources, and the Bulgarian government attaches great importance to the development of the tourism industry".

China also has rich tourism resources, including cultural and natural world heritage, and beautiful scenery, the ambassador says.

Traveling to China will bring huge profits to Bulgarian tourism enterprises, he says.

"The Chinese side sincerely welcomes more Bulgarian friends to China."