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Good season for Bulgarian winter resorts



Despite the economic crisis and snow-less winter, the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Tourism has reported a growth of 4.8% of guests to winter resorts, which is good news. The number of tourists coming from Western Europe has decreased but their place was taken by the growing number of tourists from the neighbouring Balkan countries.

Revenues of winter resorts have grown by 2.3% this season, as the most visited resort remained Bansko in the Pirin Mountain, which also hosted an alpine ski competition of the FIS calendar, which attracted thousands of visitors. However, hotel owners in Bansko say the season was not too busy. Many of the hotels remained empty and only 50% of the available beds were used. Experts say that the uncontrolled building of new hotels before the economic crisis hit the country led to the current situation, as the demand now is much lower than what is offered.

This season the Bulgarian resorts have marked a serious decrease in the number of tourists coming from UK and Ireland. At the same time the number of tourists coming from neighbouring Balkan countries has grown by 30%. The number of Bulgarian tourists has also grown as the travel abroad less. The resort of Pamporovo in the Rhodope Mountains was a hit among Bulgarians due to the lower prices and good packages offered there this winter.

“The number of Bulgarian tourists in the resort of Borovetz has grown by 43%,” chairwoman of the Borosport board of directors, Neli Sandalska says. “As a whole Borovetz has marked a 6% increase in the number of tourists this season. Skiers from the Balkan countries and Russia compensate for the decreased number of English tourists. I can say that season 2010-2011 was a good one and it was so thanks to our promotional packages and versatile marketing.”

Lack of snow is the biggest problem for winter resorts and that is why they have started to invest in snow-making equipment. This winter 15 kilometres of tracks were covered by snow-making machines in Pamporovo. It is clear that Bulgarian resorts will continue to search for ways to attract more tourists from Bulgaria and abroad.