Bulgaria is no different than the common trend of decline in the number of reservations for winter vacations, according to the Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Traicho Traikov.

Traikov spoke for the media Friday, after being asked to comment on fears of the tourist sector about a decline of bookings from Russian and UK tourists. He said there is such decline and if it doesn’t catch up at the last moment, there will be a drop of the UK market on Bulgarian winter resorts.

The Minister cited data from World Travel Market, showing a drop of reservations for Switzerland by 67%, by 80% for the US, and by 50% for France.

One of the reasons for the possible decline in the number of tourists from the UK, cited by him, is preliminary data that in 2015, the forecasted income of British households would not reach the 2002 levels. In addition, in order to guarantee the stability of the country’s social system, there is a planned acceleration of the retirement reform by eight years in order to establish retirement age for both males and females at 67 years.

Traikov informed his institution is supporting the proposal for the so-called “seasonal hotels” to pay tax only when they are open for business and have visitors, but the percentage is not yet determined.

British tourist are waiting to find out when there will be snow in order to make reservations and the later are way behind the preliminary contracts signed with tour operators, the Bulgarian Monitor daily writes, citing people from the tourist business being nervous about both the unfavorable meteorological conditions and the financial crisis.

The lowest price for packages for British tourists, who are key for Bulgaria‘s winter resorts, starts at GBP 250-300 for a week stay, including airfare and a ski lift card.

The second group on which local resorts rely – the Russians also do not make plans for winter vacations in Bulgaria unless there is snow in the forecast, experts say.

Tour operators estimate 50% current reservations of the entire capacity of the resorts.

Last winter the “good” snow arrived around January 15, and lasted until April, but tourists did not book vacations after the peak of the season.

www.novinite.com

As a tourist destination, Bulgaria participates in the redistribution of tourist flows regardless of where the negative processes and crisis situations occur, but over the past years Bulgaria has been attracting increasingly low-income tourists, according to Marin Neshkov, Chair of the Varna Chamber of Tourism.

Seasonal statistics must be prepared with regard to revenues per tourist, Neshkov has said in an interview for Radio Focus, adding that the prospects for Bulgaria are not very good, given the above statistics.

Due to the inflated bed capacity, there can be no talk of filling up the occupancy capacity at the northern Black Sea coast at present. It is hard to reach full bed even during the most active summer season.

In Neshkov’s words, however, the tourism sector has always been extremely flexible in its development and any preliminary forecasts can later be proved wrong.

Travel agencies have registered a 10% – 30% increase in bookings in the beginning of the period, which, however, coincides with the time of promotions and discounts. As the actual tourist season approaches, bookings drop.

“It is hard to summarize the data due to the diverted tourist flow from North Africa and the Middle East resulting from the crises in these countries. Part of these tourists switch to Greece and Turkey”, Neshkov says.

The northern Black Sea coast is the place for developing sea tourism, with spa tourism as an additional component. There are indications that golf tourism will grow, but it is too early to speak about a substantial representation of the segment.

“Our desire is to develop cultural, wine and sport tourism This year’s fourth edition of the Black Sea forum on tourism is devoted to sports tourism as an opportunity for extending the season”, Neshkov adds.

www.novinite.com

Bulgaria offers the best prices for vacations in the EU this summer, according to Blagoy Ragin, head of the Bulgarian Association of Restaurant and Hotel Owners.

The Bulgarian tourist business expects at least 10% more foreign tourists in 2011 compared with 2010, Ragin told the Cross news agency.

The head of the Restaurant and Hotel Owners’ Association stressed that Bulgaria’s tourist sector is looking forward to the completion of the Trakiya Highway (expected in 2012) – connecting Sofia with the southern Black Sea coast.

In his words, the Trakiya Highway will increase substantially the number of tourists from Central European countries such as Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland visiting the Bulgarian seaside.

Ragin expressed concern that the citizens of neighboring countries have unfair difficultes to enjoying a Black Sea vacation in Bulgaria.

He said that Bulgaria “loses” 200 000 Kosovo tourists per year because of the slow and expensive process for obtaining a Bulgarian tourist visa.

Bulgaria is the second best-value destination for British tourists for Easter 2011, according to a survey of Post Office Travel Money.

Spain offered best value-for-money for 10 typical holiday items in a table of 14 popular tourist destinations compiled by Post Office Travel Money as cited by the Press Association.

The survey found the 10 items, including cigarettes, beer and suncream, came to GBP 42.15 in Spain, they were GBP 77.01 in Brighton and as much as GBP 92.81 in Miami, Florida, which was the most expensive destination.

Bulgaria, where the items totalled GBP 43.50, was the second cheapest destination while in Brittany, northern France, the items were as much as £81.48.

In Corfu, Greece, the 10 items were found to cost GBP 58.87; in Turkey they totaled GBP 79.58, and in Egypt GBP 78.30.

Their cost in the Sussex resort Brighton has increased compared with last year, while in Turkey, Greece, and Egypt it declined by 10-15%.

The Bulgarian Black Sea resort Albena is expecting a 20% increase of German tourists this summer, in comparison to last year.

Yovka Strashilova, Deputy Director in the Sales Department in the resort, said that last year the number of German tourists in Albena were 16% more than the previous year.

She has explained the increased interest with the advertising campaign, organized for the second consecutive year by Albena Jsc in cooperation with tour operators. In her opinion, the lower prices, compared to the years before the recession, are also attractive to German tourists.

Strashilova said she expected the number of Russian tourists to remain the same as last year, when it saw an increase of 30%. However, Romanian tourists might increase by 5%, she said, adding that their number went up by 3% last year.

“This summer, the resort is introducing its new system Dine around,” Strashilova said.

The concept will allow tourists that are staying for at least 7 day in All Inclusive and Ultra All Inclusive hotels to be able to experience cuisines in different restaurants.

Albena‘s Director of Investor Relations, Petko Gerdzhikov, said that a total of BGN 3.8 M were invested in the resort last year. The expected investments for the new season are BGN 4.2 M.

Gerdzhikov has explained that the money have been used for reconstruction of the resort and improvement of the infrastructure.

He has also stated that according to the preliminary data, Albena ended 2010 with a profit of BGN 9.2 M.

www.novinite.com

Bulgaria’s capital Sofia has registered a 140 000 decrease in the number of nights spent in hotels in 2010 in comparison with five years ago, according to the city’s Municipal Company “Tourist Service”, as cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency and the Dnevnik daily.

In 2010, 1 117 million nights have been spet  in hotels and similar establishments in the Bulgarian capital. Foreigners have stayed in hotels in Sofia 50 000 times less than five years ago, while Bulgarians have spent 90 000 nights less in them compared with the same period.

Greek and German citizens have constituted the largest number of foreign guests in Sofia‘s hotels, the statistical data says, followed by visitors from Turkey, Spain and Romania. The number of foreigners, who have stayed at the capital’s hotels in 2010, has been two times bigger than that of the Bulgarians.

The Sheraton and Kempinski Zografski five-star hotels have registered an increase in the number of hotel guests accommodated during the past year, with 12 000 and 11 000 respectively.