Bulgaria’s tourism sector, along with the food and textile industries, is expected to provide the biggest portion of bankruptcies after Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union.

Ninety per cent of the more than 5000 micro-companies in the food-making industry will not cope with the introduction of the EU health requirements, Chairman of the Managing Board of the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria Vassil Velev told a news conference on June 28. Almost the same percentage applies for the tourism companies, where the market itself will lead to the bankruptcies.

The Economic and Social Council (ESC), a consultative body with the Government, held a session on June 28 to approve an opinion on the Bulgarian industrial policy in the process of this country’s accession to the EU.

The document was prepared by the quota of the employers’ organisations in ESC and will be given to the line ministries and to Parliament.

The employers argue that the Bulgarian companies are faced with bankruptcies over their inability to cope with the high European health conditions, the environmental regulations, the stronger competition and the expected increase of labour costs in the respective economic sectors, Velev said.

The Bulgarian industry will have to spend nine billion euro so as to be able to meet the environmental requirements by 2014, Velev said. ESC suggests allocating resources for environmental grants for SMEs in the Environment Operational Programme.

The direct introduction of financial stability requirements will have a negative impact on about 80 per cent of the nearly 6000 licensed forwarding and transport companies in Bulgaria.

Tourism contributes about 12 per cent of Bulgaria’s gross domestic product and tourism revenue helps the country partly offset a rise in its trade deficit.

Last year, 4.84 million foreign tourists visited the, bringing revenue of 1.932 billion euro.

Speaking of the tourism sector, there are other factors that influence its development and they already have a negative impact on Bulgaria.

UK travel agency Thomas Cook registered a three per cent drop of tourists to the Bulgarian seaside at the beginning of the summer.
The decrease is due to the World Cup in Germany. Most UK citizens have chosen Germany as a summer holiday destination.

The drop can be compensated in June, July and September. A total of 23 000 or 24 000 UK tourists can visit Bulgaria over the summer, Thomas Cook predicts.

In an attempt to offset the seaside decline, some alternative forms of tourism in Bulgaria are now seriously advertised.

The Bulgarian Association of Alternative Tourism (BAAT) presented on June 28 the fourth edition of a guide on key guesthouses and hotels in Bulgaria.

The catalogue includes over 200 text pages in Bulgarian and English and over 300 pictures including addresses of landmark guesthouses and hotels in Bulgaria.

The catalogue includes also information about six alternative tourism operators, four nature parks and one national park.

The guide will be distributed by the bookshop chains Helikon, Booktrading and Pingvinite, and at the filling stations of OMV, Shell and LUKoil. The guide will be available in online bookshops at a later stage.

Meanwhile on the market, the Bulgarian diversified company Festa Holding said it planned to invest 19 million euro in the construction of a luxury hotel and holiday apartments near its winery located in the town of Pomorie on the Black Sea coast.

The holding company plans to further develop its Via Pontica complex, which includes a refurbished 1932 winery and a restaurant for wine tourism, by adding a small luxury hotel with 40 apartments and spa centre and a holiday village with 57 apartments.

The investment in this project is estimated at nine million euro.

Festa also plans to invest 10 million euro in the construction of a larger holiday village near Via Pontica. The complex, named Festa Apartments will have 192 apartments that will be sold, a small hotel, bars and restaurants, swimming pools, spa and fitness centres.
Both projects are expected to be completed by the start of next summer.