Sat, Feb 11 2012
International hotel chain Riu Hotels & Resorts will take over at the Pravets Golf & Spa resort in Pravets, north-western Bulgaria, Terra Tour Service, the investor in the project, said.
Riu has signed on to run a hotel with more than 200 rooms in the resort for a period of five years. The 70 million leva complex, which has an 18-hole golf course, among other facilities, has an area of 100 ha and should open for business by the autumn of 2009.
Riu, which tracks its origins to Mallorca in 1953 with a small family hotel, already operates Terra Tour hotels in sea resorts Slunchev Byrag (Sunny Beach) and Zlatni Pyasutsi (Golden Sands) and in coastal city Obzor.
Source: news.dnevnik.bg
Two more European accredited golf courses will be built in Bulgaria, making a total of six to date that are up to European standard. However, in order for Bulgaria to take full advantage of lucrative possibilities, it needs to build more than 30 courses that would expand the tourist season by five months annually.
Average market prices of homes in Sofia fell by one per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to the same period of 2010, according to the Raiffeisen Real Estate Index, as quoted by Klasa daily.
Proportionately, the number of transactions in leva increased as people reacted to speculation that the euro would disappear.
Nearly all banks are ready to finance between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of the price of a home, provided it is a good building in a large city, Bulgarian daily says.
Property prices in Bulgaria were five to 10 per cent lower in 2011 than in 2010, while initial estimates for this year are that they will remain largely unchanged, with transactions remaining at ‘crisis levels’.
Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia ranks 17th, report says, quoting Global Property Guide.