Bulgarian Tourism Industry: No Avoiding The Tough Reality-check

Sofia.  Decline in bookings on key markets, understaffing, poor value for money. These are some of the factors that will make life difficult for may local hotel owners and even whole resorts this summer, the English online edition of the Dnevnik Daily reported.
The industry is bracing for flat tourist arrival figures in 2008 after half a decade of double-digit growth. It will be a mixed bag, said Valentin Yosifov, the local TUI representative. 'The season will be good for those that got right their pricing and marketing strategy while those that didn't will suffer.' This view was shared by several hotel owners. Elena Ivanova, chairperson of the association of property owners in the Sunny Beach resort, said the hotels in the center of the resort were fully booked. Vladimir Demirev, manager of the Elenite resort, also said that the occupancy level was high. Ditto for the Dunes, said Elza Radkova, owner of a property in that resort.
Industry experts said the resorts on the northern stretch of the Black Sea coast will find the going tougher than their counterparts further down south. The reason is the higher prices, the packages there are 10-20% more expensive, said Yosifov. The local resorts are struggling to fill the sizeable gap left this year by the pullback on the UK and Scandinavian markets.
In 2007, British tour operators TUI and First Choice struck Varna from their holiday catalogues. Thomas Cook may follow suit next season, said the tour operator's local representative Hristo Kolev. A string of criminal incidents last year has led to a 30-50% slump in Scandinavian bookings compared to summer 2007.
And 2009 is shaping up even worse as TUI plans to axe the Northern Black Sea coast from its Scandinavian catalogue, said Yosifov. Just about the only bright spot is the German market where bookings are poised for a 5% growth. Russian are also opting to vacation here in larger numbers, providing the tour operators with 20% increase in bookings. The hotel owners are attempting to offset the stagnating market with an upward revision of the pricelist, a move that tour operators think runs counter to Bulgaria's image as a budget destination