CHEAP OFFER
Chepelare winter resort started offering lift passes at a 20 per cent discount as of January 14. The reason is the end of the Christmas and New Year holidays and the low tourist turnout. Discounts are valid for students and children, who will pay 14 leva for a one-day lift pass. Adults will pay 22 leva, the local ski centre said. Hotel accommodation rates in the resort have been also cut by about 20 per cent. The Rhodope town has multiplied its tourist capacity in the past few years. The main reason is the ski area above Chepelare Mechi chal, which local hotel owners have rapidly developed in the past three years.

INTERESTED IN  PAMPOROVO
There is strong foreign investor interest in the Black Sea Property Fund’s holiday complexes in Pamporovo winter resort.  In an announcement to the London Stock Exchange’s AIM segment, the fund said that sales were better than expected and prices were higher than initially forecast. Interest in the resort was being shown by Russian and British investors, as well as by institutional investors from Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. In the three months since sales started, foreigners have deposited money for 36 apartments in Pamporovo.

ENORMOUS EXPECTATIONS
Bulgaria’s largest ski resort Bansko and nearby accommodation facilities plan to increase their total accommodation capacity to 25 000 beds in the next three years. At present the bed capacity comes to 9000 beds from less than 5000 a few years ago. Bansko municipality said that more than 100 investment projects were being carried out and many other were awaiting approval to start construction. According to unofficial information, about 15 000 construction workers are employed by private investors in the municipality.

BATAK APPEARS ON THE SCENE
The southern Bulgarian town of Batak will be turned into a ski centre through a project by the local municipality and the Association for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. The project is worth 25 000 euro, of which the EU is expected to provide 75 per cent. The project envisages the construction of a national tourist and sports centre. Ski runs and ski lifts will be developed in the nearby resort of Tsigov Chark.

WARNING
Despite the absence of snow, Pamporovo saw its first major skiing accident. On January 12, a16-year-old old Russian, Vitoria Alexeeva, was skiing down the green slope in the resort by herself when she entered into a forbidden area. She called her brother on her mobile phone telling him she could not move. After that the connection failed. Alexeeva was found several hours later by rescuers in a coma. She was brought to a hospital in nearby Smolyan with serious injuries, with a broken leg, arm and pelvis. Doctors said that Alexeeva had a good chance of recovery, but she was still in a coma.