Bulgaria Ski discussion board

sofia Weekly:

Bulgaria Winter Resorts with One Fourth More Foreign Tourists in 2008

The number of foreign tourists who visited the Bulgarian winter resorts in January and February of 2008 has gone up 23,4% compared to the same months of 2007.

Bulgaria's total revenue from tourism in these months was EUR 97,8 M, which is 19% more than in the same period of 2007.

The news was announced by the Chair of the Bulgarian State Agency for Tourism Aneliya Krushkova on Wednesday. Krushkova presented data from a poll about the winter vacation in Bulgaria.

The poll results show that 78% of all foreign tourists, who visit Bulgaria, were ready to recommend it as a tourist destination.

Many of them, however, pointed out they wished that the Bulgarian winter resorts were quieter and more peaceful, and that the staff improved their English, and were more hospitable.

The number of Serbian and Macedonian tourists visiting Bulgaria in the winter continues to decrease.

Just a note:
Sofia news weekly is 'designed' for foreign readers only and made by them from office is Sofia from part-time foreign novices and backed up by invertors so there are always quite a lot of discrepancies in the actual news details with them but that is understandable.

Actually the correct details are as follows:
--From BG news.

''Bulgarians Spend Lavishly on Vacations Abroad
E137.8 million were spent on trips abroad in two months alone


The Bulgarians prefer to spend their vacations abroad.
"In the first two months of the year, the funds spent by the Bulgarians on trips abroad exceed this country's revenues from tourism," announced Anelia Krushkova, head of State Agency for Tourism.
The Bulgarians spent 137.8 million euro on vacations abroad in January and February. This is by 32.4% more than the sum disbursed on holidays in foreign countries in 2007. At the same time, Bulgaria's revenues from tourism stand at 97.8 million euro, or by 40 million euro less than the above mentioned exported funds. Despite this fact, the total sum has increased by 18.1% in comparison with the same period of 2007.
"The negative balance between the money spent abroad and the funds, which are poured into Bulgarian economy and tourism, is a precedent," Krushkova said.
The revenues in the branch for 2007 amount to a total of 2.284 billion euro while the funds spent by the Bulgarians on vacations abroad amount to 1.322 billion euro, i.e this sum is some 900 million euro lower than the above mentioned.
Natalia Malcheva

And there are already calls for resignation of the BG tourism boss.

Carole, are you from the same group of estate agents in around Pamporovo?

....and many more news like that almost everyday flooding in.And some good one of course(have to include and this sentence to make the other half happy)

This brings memory of one Russian girl posting on this very site a month or so ago saying that she was very suprised that any foreigner ( or more precise -Brit) wants to go to BG when there are no restrictions for them.
Boro according her was not a ski resort and the only reason for her countrymen and women 'the Russians' to go there (this is absolute truth trust me I am fluent in Russian and have a lot contacts there) is because with short notice and visa issued on the spot(like the case with BG) they can only fly to Bulgaria if they want to try quick skiing.
For France Austria etc they have to apply for a visa which takes time and so on and so on.

The same goes for the so called flooding from Russians buying properties in BG and the ones going on holiday to the ''warm site'' as described on here from the BG beach lovers.
.Just PURE rubbish.
The ones which are buying are doing so for one and only reason:
- after that getting hold of a multiple EU entry visa so they can then shift further afield(who knows maybe going into England as well)This is the sole reason.

Something like a convenient stepping stone .
who can blame them though.

One more news which I think needs posting here is the one about the prices and 'value for money' for some seedier services on offer in Beach and Ski Resorts and as a general around the country and the almost top place BG is holding in this EU sector.
This is again from this week and to be honest not very proud so I am not going to be the one posting the 'copy and paste'.
Seach it yourselfs and make your own conclusions about it!

SATURDAY BLOG: Bulgaria: all inclusive
00:01 Sat 26 Apr 2008 - Petar Kostadinov

Summer is coming and it would not be wrong to say that Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast is preparing for another profitable holiday season. It is no secret that Bulgaria’s economic growth, that some choose to call a “boom”, is due more to the tourism industry than any other sector.

In the past five years, British and Scandinavian tourists have dominated Bulgaria’s tourism industry, only natural because those countries do not have the weather to sustain a vivid sea tourism industry. Compared to the French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian beaches, Bulgaria’s seashore comes at a relatively cheap price, with lots of liquor laid on as well.

I wonder if this is the future of Bulgaria: to become a country for low-class tourists who come here only for a week of cheap drinks and food. Or maybe this is already true. The evidence: Every “all inclusive” holiday package offered to foreigners by Bulgarian tour operators includes “free” food and drinks on the premises of the hotels they are staying in.

In effect, this means that the tourists need spend nothing outside the walls of the hotels because, indeed, it’s “all inclusive”: the food, the pools, the beaches, the bars, the spa.

It is enough to take a walk in one of the many resorts along the Black Sea coast to see groups of people, each with plastic or cotton bracelets on their wrists, all in one colour. These wristlets serve as a “ticket to fruitfulness” because it identifies those who are entitled to a hotel’s hospitality.

Presumably, the tourists paid their local tour operator for these packages weeks in advance. The tourist agency, in return, has paid some money to their Bulgarian colleagues. The effect – apart from the advance payment, the tourists spend no other money in Bulgaria, if you do not count those lovely souvenirs with Rila monastery or the customary CD of Bulgarian folklore music.

And because someone told Bulgarian businessmen that Bulgaria must be filled with five-storey four- and five-star hotels, the foreign tourists that make up most of the market in Bulgaria enjoy a “happy hour” that they could not afford in their own countries.

It is not these tourists’ fault. They paid what was asked of them, ruling out any question of disputes.

To avoid accusations of unfair treatment of the subject, it should be recorded that Bulgarians are also being asked to pay.

They are asked first to pay for entering the resorts with their cars, secondly to park there if there are parking spaces at all – because, naturally, hotels prefer to keep their parking spaces reserved for their guests, and resort managements prefer to have their resorts filled with hotels rather than with parking areas.

Further, Bulgarians are asked to pay to be allowed to use the beaches. And this is possible only where there are any “free” beaches left, because now there are plenty of hotels that keep beach sections “reserved” for the bracelet people.

Then and only then, Bulgarians are allowed to enjoy their personal space of one sq m at the crowded beaches.

And because Bulgarians don’t have “bracelets”, they spend their money at the numerous taverns, restaurants and discos, which makes Bulgarians the sole source of income in a local economy.