Tourism is a key driver of economic development along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, contributing significantly to employment, local incomes, and regional competitiveness. At the same time, the concentration of tourism activities in coastal areas generates increasing pressures on natural resources, ecosystems, infrastructure, and local communities.

The region faces a number of interrelated challenges, including strong seasonality of tourism demand, intensive land use and coastal development, growing water and energy consumption during peak seasons, increased waste generation, and cumulative impacts on sensitive marine and coastal ecosystems. These pressures are further amplified by climate change and demographic dynamics, requiring more adaptive and knowledge-based approaches to destination management.

Despite the strategic importance of tourism, decision-making processes often rely on fragmented, outdated, or insufficiently integrated data. This limits the capacity of public authorities and stakeholders to assess tourism impacts, anticipate risks, and design effective sustainability-oriented policies.

The establishment of the Black Sea Sustainable Tourism Observatory (BBSCO) addresses these challenges by creating a permanent, transparent, and scientifically grounded system for monitoring sustainable tourism development. By applying internationally recognised methodologies and fostering cooperation among institutions, academia, and stakeholders, the Observatory provides reliable evidence to support informed planning, policy evaluation, and long-term sustainable development of the Bulgarian Black Sea tourism region.

BBSCO operates in line with the principles and methodological framework of the UNWTO International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO), ensuring international comparability and continuous improvement of monitoring practices.