After an electricity transformer accident left Bulgarian resort of Slunchev Bryag (Sunny Beach) without power for several hours on July 5, hotel owners in the resort now fear that more of the same is to follow, Dnevnik daily reported on July 7.

Slunchev Bryag was not the only one affected by the power cut, the resort towns of Nessebur and Pomorie struggling to cope with its consequences as well.

"We made every effort to make do with electricity generators, but they were not enough to secure the necessary quantity of electricity. The power cut had a very negative effect on us," Dnevnik quoted Elenite holiday village manager Vladimir Demirev as saying.

Austrian firm EVN, which owns the power distribution grid in southern and south-eastern Bulgaria, said that the black-out was caused by the installation of a new transformer, which had state-run power grid operator National Electricity Company temporarily take disconnect one 110kV power line from the power grid. That lead to the other 110kV line in the area to break down under the strain of additional traffic.

It was not the first power cut this season, hotel owners fearing it would not be the last either, Dnevnik said. A black-out in May, long before the summer season proper began, made the rounds of foreign newspapers, including Britain's Telegraph.

Rapid over-construction and insufficient infrastructure upgrades are having a bigger impact this year more than ever before, hotel owner said, as quoted by Dnevnik.

The numbers of British and Scandinavian tourists have fallen drastically in 2008, with an increasing number of international tour operators taking Bulgaria off their list of destinations. Not even the moderate increase in the number of German tourists and strong growth on the Russian market are expected to compensate for the shortfall, with the number of foreign tourists this summer expected to remain flat compared to 2007, the daily said.