[size=75:3b4y04ly]Dnevnik 23 February 2010

Snow forecasts, holidays lift spirits of Bulgarian hoteliers


Bulgarian hoteliers and tour operators pin their hopes on the forecasted heavy snowfalls in March to encouraging tourists to warm up to Bulgarian resorts amid the freeze of the downturn.

A poll by Dnevnik showed that the sector is prepping special packages that will be backed by advertising and marketing campaigns. Some hoteliers hope to extend the winter season until early April for Easter.

Bulgarian hotels will target mostly local and Greek and holidaymakers. However, most are downbeat about this season’s performance, with various estimates pegging the decline at between 5% and 12% thanks to lower prices from the previous winter season and travelers scarcely bother to pay extra on the package.

Despite snow of more than a meter expected to blanket Bulgarian resorts, according to the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, tour operators do not plan more chartered programmes to Sofia and Plovdiv airports.

“Chartered flights from Russia will run until the end of March, bookings are now underway,” said Alma Tour president Lyubomir Pankovski.

Sevda Ivanova, the local representative of British tour operator Thomas Cook, said chartered flights will run until March 13, with bookings faring more or less well.

But optimistic news about the UK and the Russian market are not enough to brighten up Bulgarian hoteliers, who expect to welcome a small number of tourists from the two countries.

In March, hoteliers will sharpen their focus on Bulgarians and Greeks, who can book last-minute vacations and several holidays.

Bulgarian hotels plan to slash prices by between 10% and 20% in March as compared with the same month of 2009. They expect more tourists than in winter 2009 but say levels before the crisis broke will not come back soon.