Bulgaria's Bansko opens summer season

sofiaecho.com, 2007-06-11

     You may have missed winter in Bansko, given how sparse the snow was, but the people of the mountain resort town would like you to visit for summer.
     Bansko officially opened its summer season on May 26. Bansko mayor Alexander Kravarov told journalists that the resort had achieved a tourist boom in the past 20 years. Of the municipality's 30 million leva budget, 23 million was generated through its own earnings. Kravarov said that projects to improve infrastructure, including 40 streets and 32 000 sq m of pavements, and to repair public buildings and churches were underway.
     Looking ahead to the next winter season, the resort plans to renovate two ski runs during the summer. Currently, the resort has a bed capacity of 10 700, but this is expected to increase to 30 000 in the long term.
     National news on the tourism front was the announcement at the end of May that Bulgaria ranked 54th out of 124 countries in attractiveness as a tourism destination, according to the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Competitiveness Report 2007. Criteria determining the ranking included the priority given to tourism in state policy and regulatory framework, quality and development of infrastructure, condition of hotels and the qualification of staff, prices of services, safety and political situation in the region, folklore and cultural heritage, and environment. Bulgaria may not have done that badly in the rankings (its score was close to those of Turkey and Mexico) but it seems the country may be becoming a little less attractive to the neighbours, especially those from non-European Union countries.
     Media reports on May 28 quoted Blagoy Ragin, head of the Bulgarian hotel and restaurant association, as saying that Bulgaria was losing tourists from Macedonia and Serbia because of the sluggish system in issuing visas. Ragin said that the Foreign Ministry had been approached to speed up the issuing of visas to neighbouring non-EU member countries.
     Meanwhile, there was good news for those who are fans of train travel, or at worst have a fear of flying. Bulgarian daily newspaper Dnevnik reported that state railways BDZ is to incorporate a passenger train service joint venture with German counterpart Deutsche Bahn. The two railways are in talks to operate joint train routes from Sofia and Bourgas to various destinations in Germany. A working group is selecting the routes and tackling the legal issues related to the creation of the joint venture.

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