Constant reports of over-construction and over-population of sites holding particular tourist interest seem to meet no response among those who cause the over-construction and over-population – accommodation owners and builders – as accommodation capacity in the country continues to increase. For the second trimester of 2008, it was five per cent higher than in the same period of 2007.

The figures were published in a report by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) on August 25. The study provided data on the total number of beds and rooms offered by hotels, motels, lodges, private rooms, holiday villages, cabins and campsites and other short-term stay accommodation with more than 10 beds that were operating during that time. It concluded that there were 2643 such accommodations in the country in the second trimester of 2008. The five per cent increase amounted to 127 locations. The number of rooms was 105 500, totalling 234 000 beds.

Surprisingly or not, it was mostly hotels that appeared on the stage, 91, which was a 6.6 per cent increase. Even less surprising was the study’s conclusion that most of the hotels operating in the country were on the Black Sea coast, 39 per cent. They offered about 67 per cent of the country’s beds. Out of 1477 hotels in Bulgaria, 272 were in the Bourgas region, 223 in Varna region and 81 in the Dobrich region.

According to NSI, the number of beds decreased in the second quarter of 2008, compared with Q2 of 2007, resulting mainly from the smaller number of larger hotels operating during the period. On the other hand, holidaymakers preferred smaller-scale accommodation such as lodges and camp grounds.

In the second trimester of 2008, the number of overnight stays in all types of accommodation increased by three per cent, or 128 000, compared with 2007 figures. Bulgarian holidaymakers accounted for more than half of the tourists staying in the accommodation, 53.7 per cent, but had only a 33.5 per cent share in the total number of overnight stays, registering an increase of two per cent year-on-year. This meant that more of the tourists were Bulgarians, but the relative time they spent in the tourist accommodations was shorter than that spent by foreigners.

No significant change was registered in the number of overnight stays made by foreign tourists in general. However, a closer look at the figures by nation shows that there was a remarkable increase in the number of tourists from Malta, Latvia and Estonia. Five times more Maltese, 170.9 per cent more Latvians and 132.2 per cent more Estonians had overnight stays in Bulgarian accommodation. The number of tourists from Lithuania, Croatia, Poland and Slovenia also registered an increase of more than 50 per cent. On the other hand, Swiss, Norwegian, Swedish and Serbian tourist stays in Bulgarian accommodation decreased by more than 30 per cent. Another decrease, though smaller, was registered also among Finnish, Spanish and UK tourists by more than 20 per cent.

Almost all foreign tourists, 99.3 per cent, preferred overnight stays in hotels, as opposed to lodges or camp grounds, the research showed.

All these figures might even sound positive, if it was not for the study’s conclusion that bed occupancy was only 27.3 per cent, an increase of one percentage point year-on-year.