Over the last fifteen years, the Danube region, the most international river basin in the world, has become almost entirely European Union (EU) territory. The region is a priority not only in European strategic documents but also in national and regional strategic documents, as its potential for development has been assessed, especially in the municipalities along the Danube River.

The Bulgarian part of the river basin falls in regions with predominantly rural municipalities with poorly developed industrialization, deteriorated transport infrastructure and deteriorated age structure of the population. These are a small part of the socio-economic problems in the area, which do a number of challenges to the full economic use of the river. An alternative to this trend is the development of new economic activities to attract interest in the Danube region. Tourism has the potential to improve the situation in the region and, with its development, to cause diversification and improvement of the economic structure in the Danube region of Bulgaria.