Language:

  • en
  • bg
  • ru
  • ro
  • el
  • tr
  • sr
  • es
  • de
  • fr
  • it
  • nl
 / +359 879 09 23 64 e-mail
We speak English

No booking fees!
FREE cancellation in most cases!

Search for hotel offers:

* optional
 (€ total)

Hotels in Bulgaria (1035)

Ski in Bulgaria 2023/24

Holidays and events

Live webcams in Bulgaria

Deals & discounts in Bulgaria (1348)

Tourism Developments Expected in Bulgaria

Sofia Echo Com, 02.05.2006

It has long been conventional wisdom that there are a number of things that Bulgaria needs to do to make its tourism industry sustainable. One is to create greater synergy among the various bodies at national and local levels dealing with drawing tourists to Bulgaria. Another is to come up with, at last, an innovative and credible international campaign to promote the country as a tourist destination. Discussions in recent days have given some indication that progress may be made in the merry month of May, the month that traditionally sees an upswing in visitors as the start of the summer season. On April 19, it was reported by Bulgarian news agency BTA that a national tourist board is to be set up on May 3. According to Poli Karastoyanova, executive director of the Bulgarian Convention and Visitors Bureau (BCVB), members of the board of the new body are to include major investors in the tourist sector, airlines, banks, the Golf Association, the Bulgarian Association of Spa and Wellness Tourism and the Sofia City Council The aim of the board will be to defend business interests in tourism. The board will have a network of representations abroad, Karastoyanova said. She made the announcement after a working meeting between members of the BCVB and the chair of the State Tourist Agency (STA), Mario al-Djebouri. Al-Djebouri called for unity in the tourist sector, saying that this would make it a lot easier for the STA to defend the interests of the sector. He said that developing the tourist sector in Bulgaria requires long-term foresight rather than just seeking quick return on investment and profits. He said that unification of the sector would lead to more efficient participation in projects funded by EU structural funds. He also addressed the subject of congress tourism, saying that it was one of the country’s priorities. The challenges facing it were dealt with in a special chapter in the new strategy for tourism development, he said.Karastoyanova said that beautiful resorts were not enough to say that Bulgaria was a well-developed tourism destination. Unresolved problems regarding infrastructure, old seaports, beach concessions, outmoded airports, the lack of a network of tourist agencies, regulation of the health care of tourists and inadequate advertising for the tourism sector remained key factors, she said. According to Bulgarian-language media reports, the chair of the BCVB, Radisson SAS Grand Hotel general manager Martin Kolb, said that Bulgaria should regularly invite international journalists to show them the various options for tourism in Bulgaria. At this stage, a CNN advertisement would not be effective, because the county was not yet famous enough, Kolb was quoted as saying. At a conference in the northern Black Sea resort of Nessebar, al-Djebouri announced that commissions from the tourism agency would conduct checks of hotels, restaurants and other tourism sites along the Black Sea coast from May 1. The inspections would be done of facilities that have already submitted applications for obtaining a categorisation status, he said. About 100 applications for obtaining a category are processed weekly, he said. According to STA data, about 700 companies have yet to be registered and assigned a category. Meanwhile, optimistic forecasts are in the air again. Bulgarian National Radio reported that between 500 000 and 550 000 German tourists are expected to visit Bulgarian summer resorts this year. Tour operator ITA will bring 150 000 tourists to Bulgaria, company representative Nachko Kozarev said. Despite stagnation on the German tourism market, interest in Bulgaria remained high, Kozarev said. German tourists were attracted by the affordable prices and the improving quality of the tourism service in the country. Some of the negative developments that might turn foreign tourists away included construction work close to hotels. The creation of closed vacation villages was one way in which this problem could be solved, Kozarev said.

see source