A GROUP of about 200 German tourists arrived at the seaside resorts of Bulgaria in mid-March this year in what was billed as the first such visit of the summer season, against a background of concerns that interest among German tourists in summer holidays in Bulgaria is diminishing.
During this year’s ITB tourist exhibition in Berlin, Bulgaria was warned by participants that the country might expect a decline in the inflow of German tourists this summer because of the extensive building works at its Black Sea coastal resorts.
Many visitors in 2004 were aware of the increased building work that is taking place there and this has led to a decrease in bookings this year.
Investors have been lured by the booming tourism in Bulgaria and many of them have in the past few years put money into building new hotels on the Bulgarian seaside. Last year, many contractors violated the Government’s ban on construction work during the summer season, hurrying to complete construction projects on time, causing many tourists to cancel their bookings.
Germans were the second largest group of tourists from the European Union to spend their holidays in Bulgaria last year - a statistic that appears unlikely to be matched this year. Especially after the first group of tourists from Germany already suffered the consequences of the mushrooming construction.
Just four days after arriving, they found themselves cut off after a landslide blocked the road between the resort of Zlatni Pyasutsi (Golden Sands) and its mother city of Varna. Such landslides are very dangerous and could swallow some of the villas and restaurants in the area, according to Bulgarian-language media reports. Such landslides are one of the after-effects of construction work carried out in violation of building regulations and regardless of any planning.
Although construction work in the area has been banned since 1997, the ban is frequently breached.
The biggest European tour operator bringing holidaymakers to Bulgaria - TUI - said that German bookings for the Bulgarian Black Sea resorts for the 2005 summer season had so far dropped by 17 per cent year-on-year.
TUI said the drop in the bookings was temporary and the company still hoped that this year it would bring in the same number of German tourists, 240 000, as it brought in 2004. TUI registered an eight-per-cent year-on-year increase in the number of tourists to Bulgaria in 2004.
One hope remains, however. Bulgaria is slowly gaining ground on the French tourist market as more travel operators feature the country as a destination in their holiday portfolios. This emerged at the Tourissimo 2005 fair in Strasbourg.
A dozen companies - Thomas Cook France, Antoni Voyages, Europatours-Schumitours, Josy Tourisme, Look Club Voyages, Nouvelles Frontieres, Pauli Voyages, Royer Voyages, Voyages Lesage, Voyages Mugler and Starter, were advertising Bulgarian resorts at the industry fair.
A sure sign that the French are warming to Bulgaria as a holiday destination is the move by tour operator Starter to launch, as of May 7, weekly charter flights to Varna by Bulgarian carrier Air Via. During the summer season, the company will also offer weekly flights from Mulhouse to Bourgas.
Starter has been selling Bulgaria sea resort Albena on the French market for many years but as of this year it will include Slanchev Bryag in its Bulgarian catalogue.
Most French people book their holidays in Bulgaria through Thomas Cook France and Nouvelles Frontieres, and they usually stay at the resorts of Zlatni Pyasutsi, Slunchev Bryag (Sunny Beach), Obzor and Elenite.
And in another development that may be grounds for hope, the Government approved on March 17 the introduction of visa-free travel to Bulgaria for Japanese nationals holding valid regular passports.
The decision will come into force without further confirmation, on the date set in the notes with which the two countries will inform each other that they have completed the relevant procedures required by their national legislation.
Japanese holders of valid regular passports are to be allowed visa-free entry and stay in Bulgaria for 90 days. The Japanese Government will establish and provide identical treatment for Bulgarian nationals holding valid regular passports.