On Borovets

Sir,
This week an old friend of mine was holidaying in Borovets. We hadn’t skied there for a year or two, so we decided to join him for a day. Apart from hearing many people muttering about it, we very soon realised what a very expensive place this had become. Six leva for a Pliska brandy - a bottle is about this price in the shops! this must be something like 1000 per cent profit.

Seven leva for a hot chocolate, I just can’t calculate that profit margin.

Ten leva for a burger, when you could buy a very good burger from a similar stall in Varna (holiday resort) for just three leva last summer. Now, the bar and cafe owners may say, “Well, the tourists are paying these prices”. Well, they have to because they have no choice, but will they ever come back to be ripped off again, and will they spread the word among their friends and colleagues?  Some comments I heard from a group of people sitting behind me at an outside mountain bar, where apart from the prices, the service was apalling, went something like this. “I’m not coming to Bulgaria again,  I can go to Austria, France, Switzerland and even Canada for similar prices and much better service and conditions, so why should I come here?”

These are not prices that foreigners, let alone Bulgarians, can afford, and I’m afraid Bulgarian hoteliers and restauranters are going to have to change their quick buck mentality, give good service and true value for money, as competition for international tourists becomes more and more intense in a shrinking world.
It’s for sure that if they don’t change their ways, “Rip Off  Borovets” is destined to become “Super Abandoned Borovets”.

David Clark

On Bansko
(In response to the sofiaecho.com article, Dobrinishte resort gains ground on Bansko)

In fact, it was so busy today that I nearly bumped into one of the other FIVE people on the slopes. Not bad for high season. Why don’t you write something interesting, for instance, about the new parking restrictions in Bansko which means no-one can actually park anywhere and is just adding to tourists being driven away. Or more to the point, who owns the company that is making money from this scam. Or the ever increasing prices in the Bansko resort for amenities and food which are driving tourists away. I have spoken to at least 10 couples this week on holiday in Bansko and ALL said they weren’t coming back.

Dianne Hatton