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Tourism Barometer: Hopeful launch
Sofia Echo Com, 09.05.2005
SOMEWHERE between pessimism and optimism on the expected number of holidaymakers, this year’s summer tourist season will be officially launched in the northern Black Sea coast resort of Albena on May 21. Announcing the date for the launch, Bulgarian Tourism Agency executive director Bisser Yalumov told the media on April 28 that he was optimistic. The bookings made at the large tourist fairs give reason to expect a successful season, Yalumov said. According to his information, bookings in the UK, the Scandinavian countries, Central Europe and Russia show a clear growth ranging from 10 to 30 per cent. There is no decline on the German market – only the growth has slowed down, Yalumov said. The number of German holidaymakers to Bulgaria this coming summer is expected to be three to five per cent more than last season. The first Chinese tour groups are expected in Bulgaria this autumn. This follows a decision by the Chinese authorities to grant Bulgaria the so-called “Approved Destination Status” (ADS). ADS is given to countries that fulfil certain conditions to enable them to receive leisure tour group travellers from China. Destinations that do not have ADS can still receive visitors from China, but not leisure tour groups. This special status gives Bulgaria access to the fastest growing outbound tourism market in the world. The optimism has gone so far that it appears that in their frantic search for foreign tourists local hotel and restaurant operators at the Black Sea coast and all over Bulgaria have forgotten about the domestic market. They have totally given up the good manners when it comes to accommodating Bulgarians, surveys show. About 60 per cent of domestic business travellers polled by Alpha Research and consulting firm Tour Marketing were dissatisfied with the reception staff of the hotels they were staying at while another 44.3 per cent said the room-service staff was unfriendly. This is wrong, as long as hotels and restaurants operating year round count on business travellers for two-thirds of their revenues, said National Hotel-keeping and Management Club President Ilian Ivanov. He was speaking during a presentation of a market survey on the hotel and restaurant business with special emphasis on services for business visitors. Half of business visitors pay between 45 and 65 leva for a night’s lodging, the survey shows. The main factors for such clients to choose one hotel over another are a clean and comfortable room, a convenient location, and positive impressions from an earlier stay. But how people can have positive impressions when they meet the sour faces of hotel staffers, experts ask. The survey was carried out among 150 member companies of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry between late February and early March. Another survey, conducted among the owners of 100 hotels fully or largely booked throughout the year and located in 27 cities, shows that almost half of the hotels provide internet access in a special business room and one in four offer internet connectivity in bedrooms. About 23.3 per cent of visitors are deprived of that service. Business room-based internet is available in one out of every three two-star hotels and half of the three-star hotels. The bedroom-based service is offered in one out of every three four-star hotels and in half of the five-star hotels. see source
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