Yachting is turning from a rediscovered hobby for the privileged few in Bulgaria to a driver of tourism. That is what a number of local businessmen are forecasting.

Years of run-of-the-mill tourism have made Bulgaria’s Black Sea tourism almost synonymous with low-cost all-inclusive hotel arrangements and cheap-alcohol tourism. There has been repeated criticism that this type of tourism tends to generate little or no additional spending (and therefore local income) outside the pre-booked hotels. Meanwhile, the shortcomings of low-cost, low-margin hotels in jungles of concrete holiday complexes along Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast have made headlines in foreign press.

Over the past several years, Bulgaria’s affluent set, on the other hand, have rediscovered the pleasures of yachting. Companies selling yachts have mushroomed in the past two or three years, and new marinas are either at the planning stages or well under way. Others, like the Marina Dinevi in Sveti Vlas, are already in full operation.

“I think that this will change in two to three years,” Yordan Dinev, one of the owners of the Dinevi Group told The Sofia Echo. “This will be a truly luxurious destination and I can see this already happening,” Dinev said.

“The average yacht-tourist spends 31 times more than an average tourist,” Vida Angelova, charter manager at Venid-yacht told The Sofia Echo. Venid-yacht, part of the Dinevi Group, has added charter yachts to its service package this year.

And with four sail-yachts, four motor-yachts and two motorboats, most of which are brand-new, plus its nostalgic wooden motorsailor Patriot, the company is making clear it means business.

According to Angelova, what is really new about what the company offers is the so-called bare-boat charter.

Bare-boat charter is when a yacht is chartered by a client who has a licence and can operate the boat without the need for an additional crew. In a more traditional yacht charter a crew is included.

“What we offer are tailor-made excursions, adapted to the wishes and desires of the client,” Angelova said. Trips could range from a one day trip with a sail-yacht to Balchik or Sozopol, with time for a dive in different bays along the coast, or a three-day trip northwards to the Romanian port of Constanta or in the other direction to Istanbul, to a week-long trip to the Greek islands. Other options include romantic dinners or breakfast onboard, or even docking the boat at a quay with direct entrance to a restaurant.

The different types of boats attract a different audience, Angelova said.

People who prefer a motor-yacht, prefer to travel to Sozopol in 20 minutes, have lunch there and travel back in 20 minutes. What they tend to be looking for is the sensation of speed and the adrenaline rush of a fast motor boat, she said.

Others prefer the tranquillity of a sailboat; the sail, the water and the lack of engine-noise.

Financially, chartering a yacht is an attractive option, considering that bare-boat charter prices for a 40-feet sail-yacht, for example, range from 3700 to 5900 euro a week, depending on the time of season.

Compared to ownership of a yacht, where initial purchase price can amount to several hundred-thousand euro, with annual cost for upkeep and other expenses running between 10 and 15 per cent of the initial purchase price, charter is a more affordable option. Especially if most owners use a boat only a few times a year.

“We are expecting to see current owners of yachts starting to give out their boats for charter in the coming year,” Angelova told The Sofia Echo.

“Our current guests are mostly apartment owners in the holiday complexes here in Sveti Vlas,” Angelova said. “But we also have guests arrive from abroad with tour-operators,  for example.”