The year 2007 surprised many Bulgarians with the high number of Romanian tourists visiting the country’s northern Black Sea coast throughout the whole summer, from as early as Easter. The explanation was simple; the European Union accession of the two countries removed the hindrances and bureaucracy at the borders. Later it appeared that it was not just the removal of visas that made Romanians fall in love with Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, but the prices as well.

A year later, The Sofia Echo contacted the major resorts at the northern coast to see whether the trend is still on. Here is what we found out.

In 2008, Easter holidays and Labour Day, May 1, almost coincide both in Romania and in Bulgaria, giving Bulgarians and Romanians an opportunity for a longer vacation.

Albena resort, which is one of the closest ones to the Romanian border, expected nearly 5000 Romanian tourists between April 25 and May 5, Ion Bonder from Albena Tour JSCo, who is responsible for the Romanian tourists, told The Sofia Echo. Albena Tour is owned by Albena AD, the company that manages the resort.

A total of 11 three-and four-star hotels will be opened by that time in the resort. The hotels are directly in front of the beach, in the centre of the resort and in the parks. Romanian tourists preferred all-inclusive packages, which is why hotel management exceeded that service.

Only Doubroudja hotel offers full and half-board. Starting from the Easter holidays, the resort will offer a unique new service, ultra all-inclusive. Tourists, who have paid for all-inclusive packages, will have free consumption of import beverages in Kaliakra club in the resort, Bonder said.

Albena hotels are tempting Romanians by including a number of Romanian meals in their hotel menus. This year,  hotel managers also decided to take into consideration some Romanian traditions. “We understood that it was a tradition in Romania to give chocolate bunnies, so we will give the tourists bunnies too,” Bonder said. “We have also arranged five Romanian duets to perform in various places in the resort during the holidays,” he said. An additional surprise for Romanian guests will be the availability of Romanian newspapers, as well as Romanian TV channels.

“The quality and lower prices of our all-inclusive packages are what attracts Romanian tourists to the resort,” Bonder told The Sofia Echo.

Albena AD attracts Romanian tourists by participating in the autumn and spring tourist fairs in Romania’s capital of Bucharest and broadcasting advertisements via television, radio and press. This strategy produced great results in 2007, as the number of Romanian tourists to arrive in Albena exceeded 27 000.

According to Bonder, the number of Romanian tourists, who had made reservations in Albena for the holidays, was nearly the same as in 2007, when the Easter and May 1 holidays did not coincide. Still, the resort expected that 30 per cent more Romanians would flock to the resort in 2008, compared to 2007.

SS Konstantin and Elena resort also expects a significant number of Romanian tourists for the holidays. “We offer them all-inclusive, luxury, mainly three-day packages,” Petra Dimitrova, marketing manager of St St Constantine and Helena Holding, told The Sofia Echo. “We also decreased prices so, currently, an all-inclusive vacation in the resort can cost 33 euro a day,” she said.

The holding also promotes the resort at the Romanian tourism fairs and works intensively with Romanian tour operators and Bulgarian tourism agencies operating in Romania.

In 2008, the holding would introduce a new marketing strategy and expected “excellent results, compared with 2007”. “We have already registered a 30 per cent increase in early bookings,” Dimitrova said. However, the number of Romanian tourists, who had booked vacations during the Easter holidays, had decreased by nearly 60 to 70 per cent, compared with 2007 figures. “It is not the holding which is to blame for the decrease. Hotel owners started to question the prices for Romanians, raising the prices to those in Greece and Turkey where, as we know, service is much better,” Dimitrova said. “Now we are fighting to bring back the attention of the Romanians.”

Unfortunately, we cannot say what the expectations and prognoses of Zlatni Pyasutsi (Golden Sands) resort are, as the official stand of the company, that manages the resort, decided not to disclose anything to The Sofia Echo. However, Mariela Popova, chief marketing expert in the company, had told Dnevnik daily that nearly 200 Romanian tourists had booked the five-star hotel Admiral in the resort. The Arabela and Bolero hotels also expected a number of Romanian tourists, Popova said.