The number of tourists coming to Plovdiv for the purpose of cultural tourism has increased more than triple. This is the result of a scientific research by the experts of the Plovdiv university Paisii Hilendarski. According to the official data for the last 3 years, there has been a 9-percent increase in 2013 and about 34-percent this year for the Bulgarian tourists. This fact ranks Plovdiv first for the number of tourists coming for a single purpose – cultural tourism. Meanwhile, for the first 8 months of this year, the stream of tourists has reached a 6-percent increase in comparison with other cities in the country.
The whole development of Plovdiv as a center of the cultural tourism is due to its historical and geographical specificity, as well as the innovation in the strategy of the Municipality developing the tourism. During the last few years there a huge investment has been made in the Old Town and the archaeological monuments. This is one of the few long-lasting strategies, developed by the Municipality of Plovdiv, along with a team of the Plovdiv University and the German experts Oliver Sheet and Patrick Fiol, who also consulted the Municipal Foundation “Plovdiv 2019” on the application for Europen Cultural Capital 2019.
The cultural strategy covers the period 2014 – 2024 and forms the main cultural politics highlighting on the co-operation between the Municipality and the non-political structures, occupied in the field of culture. The new approach for culture is connected with turning it into a means of developing of the environment, the constructive potential of citizens and gaining a higher quality of life.
The Municipality puts aside a significant part of its budget to support tourism. The tendency for this budget is to keep increasing, as a result of the investments for infrastructure, along with marketing and advertising campaigns in the country and abroad. The budget spent for culture has increased with 4% in 2013 and 6.8% in 2014. It is mainly given for organizing the events from the Cultural calendar of the city. This year the Municipality has funded over 100 cultural events of different kinds. The traditional events in the city have been developed and a lot of new ones have been added to the calendar. Some of them have national and international meaning and, most of all, the program strives to support the events organized by citizen’s associations. The concentration on the cultural calendar is a main aspect of the campaign for the European capital of culture 2019. The proclamation of the city as one of the TOP 10 must-visit destinations in 2015 by “Lonely Planet” has also resulted from the authorities’ efforts to turn Plovdiv into a main tourist destination. Additionally, the project for 2019 guaranties investments by the state politics and other sources. This will help supporting the events not only by increasing their number, but also their variety, so that they can be attractive for young people. 
The preservation of the cultural heritage and turning it into a main resource for development of the city has been a priority of the administration. Some cultural sites of national value have been put under the authority of the Municipality, and reconstructed. Great efforts have been made for preserving and socializing of the archaeological sites. The main aspect of the policy which has been conducted is promoting the cultural heritage of Plovdiv, the Old Town and the Kapana district as destinations for cultural tourism. A great work has been done for the development of the infrastructure, as well as the creation of new tourist sites, events, attractions, routes and locations, which aim to attract even more tourists from the country and abroad. During the last few years quite a few sites were opened for visitors, such as the Small Basilica, the Roman Stadium, Kapana (The Trap) – a district for art industries, and others. 
The analysis of the cultural strategy in Plovdiv points that the cultural products have both direct and mediate economic effect due to the high quality of the products and the effective marketing and communications policy. The main priority of the administration is to preserve this tendency during the next 4 years and reach sustainability in its development after 2019. It is expected for the European capital of culture 2019 to reach a record in the number of foreign visitors – from 800, 000 in 2014 to over 3 mln in 2019.