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Bulgaria registers growth in tourism revenue
Sofia Echo Com, 19.09.2005
BULGARIA registered another growth in tourism revenues for the first half of 2005, with the numbers of German tourists alone recording a drop. The country cashed in 705 million euro revenues from international tourism for the first six months of the year when 2.7 million foreign tourists visited, said Donka Sokolova, President of the Bulgarian Association of Travel Agents, citing data from the Ministry of Culture. The number of British tourists in Bulgaria increased 39 per cent, Danish tourists increased 34 per cent more, French tourists, 28 per cent, and Russians, 13 per cent. Germans, traditional visitors of Bulgaria’s Black Sea resorts, marked a decrease of 3.4 per cent in July alone. Sokolova said economic stagnation in Bulgaria had driven German tourists away. Unlike last summer, Bulgaria was not among the most preferred destinations for German tourists this year. As early as March, the leading European tour operator, TUI, said that revenues from bookings for Bulgaria were below expectations. TUI said Bulgaria was shaping up as the biggest loss-maker for 2005. The weak season in Bulgaria was not so much the result of the decreasing number of tourists as of the strong season in 2004. Many German tourists visited Bulgaria last year, attracted by cheap offers at the Black Sea. After their holidays, however, they complained of noise coming from construction sites and the low quality of food in hotel restaurants. Of course, they chose different destinations this year. Surprisingly enough, the number of US tourists choosing Bulgaria for their summer holiday destination was constantly increasing, as a recent report in Romania’s Evenimentul Zilei daily newspaper showed. Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia and Croatia were becoming tourism hotspots for US tourists. Americans willing to visit Europe, but afraid of the high euro currency rates, were choosing destinations from the eastern parts of the continent, the Romanian newspaper said. US tourists widely favoured Bulgaria. The Black Sea capital Varna and the northern town of Balchik are among the favourites for Americans, tour operators said. Bulgaria’s top three airports, in Sofia, Varna and Bourgas, have found themselves struggling to cope with a 20 per cent jump in passenger traffic as more and more tourists and business travellers stream in and out of the country. The launch of the new passenger terminal at Sofia Airport, expected to increase annual passenger capacity to 2.6 million, has been pushed back to the end of 2006, while issues with concession deals for the two coastal airports have yet to be tested in court. Varna Airport reported the biggest increase in passenger traffic in the first half of 2005, up 20 per cent, followed by Sofia, with 19 per cent, and Bourgas, with 15 per cent. Passenger traffic between the inland and the Black Sea coastline soared by 40 per cent this summer. Varna Airport handles 85 planes daily, most of them flying to and from Germany, UK, Russia and Scandinavia. The biggest number of arrivals at Bourgas Airport originated in Scandinavia. The airport handled 145 planes daily during peak traffic this summer. Germany is currently the origin and destination of most flights handled by Sofia Airport. The passenger load of the capital’s air gateway will increase even further after budget airline Wizz Air starts flying between Sofia and Bucharest on September 18. Passenger traffic since the beginning of the year via the Sofia Airport has reached 1.9 million, up 300 000 in the same period in 2004. Earlier this year, Bulgaria granted Copenhagen Airport a contract to run airports in Varna and Bourgas under a concession arrangement. The concessionaire intends to add a new terminal at the Varna airport by 2008 and expand the existing facility. see source
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