Praise for Bulgaria's tourist industry

news.assetz.co.uk, 2006-06-20

     The property market in Bulgaria has enjoyed significant growth in recent years but experts acknowledge that it is still partially inhibited by the lack of development in the tourist industry.
     With Bulgaria in the midst of a bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2014, sports may in fact play a crucial role in adding impetus to Bulgaria's tourist industry, as the Black Sea resorts have also established a reputation for excellence in this field in recent years.
     At Sunny Beach alone, holidaymakers are able to try windsurfing, waterskiing, parasailing and hang-gliding and there is certainly potential to pursue this route.
     Property investment in Bulgaria will certainly receive a huge boost from a flourishing tourist industry, not least because of the added tenant demand around the most popular holiday areas. Already, buy-to-let investors around Bansko have seen rents rising and demand improving and this is set to continue as more and more money is thrown into the country's attempt to compete with resorts in France and elsewhere in Europe.
     According to Georgi Iliev, writing for Focus News, things are certainly moving in the right direction and Bulgaria remains on track to transform itself into "a major tourist destination".
     "Tourism is on a roll in Bulgaria. For the last several years, the country's tourist industry has seen double-digit growth and now accounts for 16 per cent of GDP. Bulgaria is trying to claim its share of the global stream of tourists – but to do so, it will need to tackle the consequences of earlier development," he said.
     The problems that Bulgaria needs to overcome, according to Mr Iliev, are based around the demise of communism in 1989, when tourism also collapsed spectacularly. He argues that the Bulgarian government was naive in its efforts to market the country and this meant that it was left behind as other countries flourished.
     He says that things are changing, however, and the authorities now have a greater understanding of the need to compete with rival destinations. In March, for instance, Bulgaria was promoted as a tourist destination at ITB Berlin, while tour operators were also present at the Beijing International Travel and Tourism Market.
     The efforts have not been wasted and Mr Iliev observes that Bulgaria now features as an option for major tour operators around the world.
     Mr Iliev also refers to figures from the Nation Statistics Institute which show that four million foreign tourists visited Bulgaria last year. With the World Travel and Tourism Council predicting further growth of 6.3 per cent this year and 4.3 per cent annually until 2016, there is certainly reason to be optimistic and property investors will be looking to capitalise on this by purchasing properties in or around the country's most appealing resorts.
     While he concedes that there are a number of key obstacles that need to be avoided if Bulgaria is to truly rival some of its European counterparts in the tourism stakes, Mr Iliev suggests that EU accession next year could prove to be the catalyst that is needed.

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