Foreign tourist visits to Bulgaria up

The Sofia Echo, 2006-09-18

     New statistics on the number of visits to Bulgaria by foreign tourists in the first half of this year sounded an encouraging note, but the downward trend in the number of German visitors is likely to continue next year. Between January and July 2006, the number of foreign tourists coming to Bulgaria was just less than five per cent higher than the same period of last year, according to State Agency for Tourism figures. This represented visits by more than 2.8 million tourists in the first half of this year. Earnings from these foreign tourist added up to about 450 million euro. The figures do not include people passing through Bulgaria in transit.
     According to the agency, the largest number of tourists came from Greece, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. The sharpest increase was in the number of visitors from Ireland, 113 per cent, Romania 96 per cent and Norway 76 per cent. There was a 29 per cent increase in the number of Russian tourists, while there was solid growth in figures of tourists from the UK and Scandinavian countries.
     However, there were declines in the numbers of visitors from Germany, by five per cent, and the Czech Republic. This was the first time in 15 years that tourists from Russia outnumbered those from Germany at the resorts of Albena and Slunchev Briag (Sunny Day). It appears that the decline in German visitors may be ascribed to dissatisfaction with the level of service at Bulgarian coastal resorts and airports, by the deteriorating ecological situation, and by Germans having stayed at home this year because of the Football World Cup. Tourism authorities said that the trend of a drop in the number of German tourists visiting Bulgaria would be retained in 2007.
     Meanwhile, there is a new addition to Sofia’s four-star hotel market. The Vega Hotel represents the first investment in the local tourism industry by air carrier Vega Airlines. The hotel is to target mainly business travellers for whose convenience it provides an 80-seat conference room. The hotel also has WiFi facilities. The investor in the 77-room Vega intends to manage the hotel on his own. Vega will share the four-star niche with the Hotel Central, Central Park, Festa Barcelo and Sky City, among others.
     The Sofia hotel market offers ample choice of five-, three- and two-star hotel accommodation but the four-star segment is underdeveloped in comparison to these niches.

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