Young people, in their 20s and under, mostly from the UK and Scandinavian countries are crowding into Bulgaria's Black Sea summer resorts to take advantage of low liquor prices, according to an August 3 report by Bulgarian National Television (BNT).

A BNT reporter did night-time interviews on the streets of Sunny Beach with a series of young people who were clearly intoxicated.

The tourists could not believe that a beer cost the equivalent of one euro and found themselves in an "alcohol heaven", the report said.

Interviews with some young men and women revealed that the main reason they had visited the Bulgarian resorts was for the cheap alcohol. One girl interviewed while sitting, legs splayed, on the pavement said she had drunk 15 vodkas that night. The girl sitting next to her was barely able to hold herself up.

A number of problems result from such drinking-holidays. Foreign tourists end up getting extremely drunk and apart from starting fights with locals or other foreigners, they complain that they have been robbed in a club or had their belongings stolen from their hotel rooms.

Many tourists are said to be reporting supposed rapes or robberies to the local police just a day before their departure. Their aim is obtain an official note from the local police about the reported crime so that the tourists can then go back to their home countries and claim financial compensation from their insurance companies. This was said by chief inspector Stoiko Manev, head of Nessebar's regional police department.

But as the BNT report said, there is another side to the story. During the week when the report was filmed, police in Sunny Beach detained a Spanish man who had allegedly stolen a Bulgarian woman's handbag. A day later, a Swedish national was detained for stealing money and a mobile phone from a Bulgarian man.

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported that three dark-skinned Swedish citizens on holiday in Sunny Beach were attacked and beaten by guards, who told them "we do not like African people".

Bourgas police confirmed the incident, in which the three tourists, aged 22, 27, and 28 were set upon by four guards. Aftonbladet also referred to another incident which happened two weeks earlier, in which a 24-year-old Swede of Iraqi origin was beaten to death, allegedly by bouncers at a dance club in the summer resort of Nessebar.