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Pamporovo, Chepelare to slash prices to attract winter tourists
Sofia Echo, 18.10.2009
Hotels and restaurants in the Bulgarian ski resorts of Pamporovo and Chepelare were feeling the pinch of the global economic crunch more severely this time around than last year, offering prospective tourists packages that were up to 20 per cent cheaper than 2008, an association of hotel owners said, as quoted by Bulgarian news agency BTA on October 16 2009.
Bookings from the UK and Russia for the winter season have declined, but industry analysts say that Bulgaria relies mostly on last-minute bookings. Nevertheless, owners looked to ensure higher occupancy rates by offering cheaper packages.
"It is vital to control price levels and that price schedules should be made available to travel agencies early enough," Deputy Economy Minister Ivo Marinov told BTA at international tourism fair "Bulgarian Mountains - Four Seasons Hospitality", held in the southeastern town of Smolyan in the outskirts of the Rhodope Mountains.
At the conference, Marinov said he hoped that booking levels would not drop compared to last season, emphasising the importance of price control and avoiding the possibility of prices having to be re-adjusted and decreased midway through the season, which would harm the industry more.
The strategy envisages for prices in the Chepelare resort to be trimmed by 10 per cent on average, according to the head of hotel owners association Subi Madankov, with rates on three- and seven-day packages slashed further still. In Bulgarian ski resorts of Pamporovo, meanwhile, this winter season prices are expected to be reduced by between 15 and 20 per cent on average from 2008, Pantelei Memtsov, head of a regional tourist association told BTA.
Regardless of the cost-cutting measures, however, both hotel owners and Marinov expect that the number of British tourists this winter to be smaller than in previous years.
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