The same day that readers of the Chicago Tribune were told that Bulgaria was “rough around the edges but still a beauty”, media in neighbouring Macedonia said that Bulgarian tourism was in crisis – the latter a message not dissimilar to many recent stories in the Bulgarian media.
The Chicago Tribune’s Tim Jones, reporting from Veliko Turnovo, described Bulgaria to his readers in a story posted on July 13 2008 as a “a dark, fascinating and, unfortunately, forgotten country, an Iowa-sized Balkan beauty with snow-capped mountains and lush green fields”.
“It is here that the undeniable forces of the New World order meet a stubborn Old World speed bump defined by donkey carts, shepherds, a sclerotic and often corrupt governing bureaucracy and an economy that, for the most part, lags behind its old Eastern Bloc brethren,” Jones said.
“Don't come to Bulgaria if you're looking for some glossy European elegance interspersed with Starbucks and all those Western, touristy accouterments that make travel so comfortable and reassuring.
“But do come if you're up for something a little wild and pretty rough around the edges. Come if you're interested in watching the noisy, tectonic shifts of a former communist satellite in awkward transition to wherever it is going. Come if you'd like to see the Old World, before it's gone,” he said.
Jones advised: “Do not, however, be discouraged from engaging Bulgarians. They appreciate attempts at their language, however fumbling. A smile is always welcome, and it usually produces a response that convinces you that Bulgaria may not be as dour as portrayed”
The same day, Macedonian television channel A1 said that tourism in Bulgaria was in crisis because of shortages both of tourists and of workers. Numbers of British and Scandinavian tourists were down, while the number of Russian tourists was on the rise, Bulgaria’s Focus news agency reported A1 as saying.
A few days before, on July 10, Bulgarian historian Bozhidar Dimitrov wrote an opinion piece in mass-circulation daily 24 Chassa headlined “Kebabs and deck chairs…is this what going to the beach for six euro has become?’ Dimitrov said that it was only poor tourists who came to Bulgaria.
Dimitrov quoted figures from a national survey suggesting that 64 per cent of Bulgarians would not go to the seaside this summer.
On July 8 2008, Bulgarian daily Dnevnik said that factors including a difficult season for some hotel keepers and even for whole resorts, a drop in the sales on some major markets, Bulgaria's bad image against a backdrop of rising prices, a lack of personnel and a global financial crisis has made people engaged in tourism “sober up”.
Dnevnik said that the optimistic scenario was that the number of tourists visiting Bulgaria would keep to its 2007 level, though newly-built accommodation is available.
On July 5, Bulgaria’s image took a blow when prolonged electricity blackouts hit the Black Sea resorts of Nessebur, Ravda, Sunny Beach, Elenite, Sveti Vlas, Obzor and Pomorie. Hotel-keepers said that they would sue electricity distribution company EVN for compensation for losses.
