BULGARIA’S Parliament approved on November 10 a law that will require foreigners and Bulgarians to be charged the same prices by hotels, resorts and restaurants.
This was done with the second and conclusive approval of amendments to the Tourism Act.
The requirement will apply to accommodations sold at reception desks of hotels, as well as on the internet, through promotional and commercial brochures and publications, and through radio and television programmes.
There were statements in Parliament against the requirement. The parliamentary group of the Ataka movement voted against the change and insisted on keeping the so-called “double pricing”. They said the arrangement would push all the prices up and Bulgarians would not be able to use tourism services.
Parliamentary committee on economic policy chairman Yordan Tsonev, from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), however, said that even now many Bulgarians were not able to go on holiday, not due to a poor tourism policy but because of low incomes and poor standards of living.
The chairperson of the Bulgarian Association of Tourist Agencies (BATA), Donka Sokolova, told the media they were against the amendments being passed at this stage. She agreed, however, that it was an EU requirement to equalise prices for all regardless of nationality.
This could happen after Bulgaria joins the EU and not now, Sokolova said. She forecast that equal prices would most probably have a negative impact on Bulgarian tourists. In her view, however, it is the policies of hotel owners and tour operators that will be decisive for the local customers.
Sokolova said there were many different prices on tourist services - for packages, for single offers, for certain periods of times and others. There are only a few cases, in which foreigners come to Bulgarian resorts and pay at prices posted at the reception desks. Usually they pay for packages in advance. Even now, there are many foreigners who pay lower prices for holidays than Bulgarians.
Sokolova recalled that BATA had proposed the VAT on tourist services be lowered to seven per cent for all customers and not only for organised tourism for foreigners, which is recorded as export. In the current situation, Bulgarians have to pay 20 per cent VAT, and foreigners only seven per cent.
The amendments also create a government State Agency on Tourism. Tourism had been part of the Culture and Tourism Ministry, which is now only the Ministry of Culture.
The chair of the new authority will be appointed with a Cabinet decision, and its operation, structure, organisation and team will be envisaged in a Cabinet decree, said Deputy Culture Minister Dimitar Hadjinikolov. He has been in control of the tourism sector inheriting it from the former ministry structure.
Meanwhile, the struggle continues within the ruling coalition of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) and MRF, as to whom will be appointed to head the agency on tourism. BSP and NMSII MPs said there was no agreement reached on the issue.
The chair of the State Agency on Tourism will organise and co-ordinate the quality control of the tourist product, will register tour operators’ and tour agents’ activities and will be responsible for the categorisation of tourist facilities. The serious authority he or she will hold makes the outcome of the nomination battle seem impossible to predict.
