News

  Borovets, the mountain resort located 72 km south-east of Sofia, has welcomed 20% more visitors so far this winter season in comparison with the year-ago period, besting earlier forecasts for a 10-15% y/y growth, said Nedyalka Sandalska, executive director of Balkantourist, the concession manager of the resort's skiing facilities. Some 70% of arrivals originated in Britain with Russia as the runner-up, said Balkantourist. The company intends to invest 50-60 mln levs in new ski runs and related facilities over the next 3 years.

  Bulgaria's top ski resort of Bansko has introduced an online alert to prevent tourists from wandering off in avalanche-frequented areas.

  Color-coded, depending on the danger, Bansko's risky zones are publicized in hopes of avoiding tragedies, 24 hours daily newspaper reports. Currently there are five dangerous zones - "Todorka" and "Chashata", where the threat is serious and "Palashitsa", the gullies to "Vihren" chalet, and the gullies to "Damianitsa" where there is a moderate danger of avalanches.

  In the meantime it became clear that a British businessman is planning to sponsor a school in Bansko. Nigel Hall, who planned on investing in hotels and apartments also agreed to help with the woodwork of the local boarding-school that houses many orphaned children.

   "The resort of Bansko is the new Shanghai in the middle of Eastern Europe," the latest edition of Austrian magazine News reads. "Gold-digger's attitude. Construction cranes in a background of white topped mountains. Investors from Sofia are building dozen of hotels and prices for a square meter of land have risen ten times for the last couple of years. Bansko has been the most expensive territory in Bulgaria for quite some time", is quoted further in the article. The resort of Bansko is compared with Ischgl, an elite winter resort, which considered to be one of the top ski resorts in Europe. "Dilapidated ski lifts and tacky hotels are things of the past. Modern and stylish ski resort has appeared as from nowhere. New ski lifts reach up to near Todorka peak, that is 2800 meter high and 40 million euro have been invested in building the resort's infrastructure.

  Property prices in Bulgaria increased by 36.6 per cent in 2005, compared to the previous year, according to National Statistical Institute data. Prices vary according to region. In Sofia and Varna the increases were between 20 and 25 per cent. In smaller cities, prices rose by more than 70 per cent.
Apartments in the capital city continue being most expensive, the cheapest property is in Vidin. Bourgas property became significantly more expensive, by 46 per cent. Property in the Black Sea city costs almost as much as apartments in Sofia. Experts said that the boom that Sofia experienced a few years ago is now spreading to other cities, Dnevnik newspaper reported.

  Data also shows that construction is continuing at full pace throughout the country. Construction permits issued in 2005 numbered 55 per cent more than those in 2004. Smaller apartments are now more preferred than larger ones, while larger buildings are being constructed. The process is tied to the popularity of housing loans. More users are buying property with loans, experts said.

   An increasing number of Britons are buying second homes in Dubai and Bulgaria, according to a recent report of the British consultancy company HIFX.

  The number of Britons buying homes in Dubai is up 60 per cent on last year, while 77 per cent more people are buying a property in Bulgaria.

  "Although France and Spain remain the most popular destinations to buy abroad, due to their proximity and the cheap price of travel, British citizens are starting to look further afield," Alex Wright, director of HIFX, commented.

  "Bulgaria also is booming and the Black Sea resorts are reminiscent of Spain 20 years ago; investors are buying in their droves and there is similar activity in some of the ski resorts.

  "Supply is in danger of outstripping demand from a rental perspective so investors should be wary; capital growth is what most speculative investors are chasing at the moment. Traditional areas such as Spain and France are still popular with families looking for a holiday home and retirees who plan to spend the majority of their time abroad but the younger generation are becoming more adventurous."

  Or, better said, about Pchelinski Bani. For a start, it is one hour away from Sofia, driving on the (very good) motorway to Plovdiv. Then, the view from Rila Mountain is absolutely stunning. With Borovets only 30km away, the village climbs into nearby hills and a stream flows through it. The climate is unexpectedly milder than in Sofia. Maybe this is what attracts storks to the place – actually, the first stork I saw in Bulgaria was in Pchelinski Bani. (I immediately tied my martenitsa on a nearby tree.)

  Pchelinski Bani is, for the time being, a very quiet place resting on a treasure: hot mineral waters (73 °C). And yes, Pchelinski Bani has a spa, dating back to communism and decaying in a sort of melancholic way. “Chistota e merilo za kulturata na choveka” (Cleanness is the measure of a man’s culture) reminds a solitary sign. The spa is still open, and because of the undisputed virtues of mineral waters, local people still go there. 

  The number of tourist visits to Bulgaria in 2006 is nearly seven per cent higher than the number of visits for 2005, deputy head of the State Agency for Tourism (SAT) Stanislav Novakov said.

  Bulgaria had the potential to develop year-round tourism opportunities, Novakov said as quoted by Novinar newspaper.

  The country had already established its summer and winter resorts, Novakov told participants of the Bulgaria- Dream Area forum. Among the other types of tourism the country could develop were golf, spa, cultural and eco-tourism said he.

  Tourists were becoming increasingly interested in planning and carrying out a vacation on their own, rather than depending on fixed opportunities, said Novakov.

  Tourism featured among the priority sectors of Bulgaria’s economy, Novinar reported. It formed nearly 14 per cent of the GDP, tourism sector representatives said.

  Revenue from foreign tourist visits in 2006 exceeded two billion euro. Nearly 170 000 people were constantly employed in the tourism sector, Novinar reported.

  Budget carriers increase flights to Bulgaria

  Low cost carrier Wizz Air Monday announced it will add new destinations to and from Bulgaria with its summer flight timetable.

  Starting in June, Wizz Air will fly from Bulgarian coastal city Burgas to Budapest, Katowice and Warsaw. Flights to Budapest will be available from another Bulgarian coastal city, Varna.

  At the moment, Wizz Air flies only to London from Burgas, a route serviced by rivals Bulgaria Air, Hemus Air and British Airways.

  The carrier expects to fly 150,000 passengers to and from Bulgaria in 2007.

  Budget carrier Sky Europe recently said it was launching a Mon-Sat Sofia-Vienna route from March 26.

  Sky Europe marketing and sales director Krasimir Tanev expects the share of no-frills carriers of Bulgaria's aviation market to increase from 7-8% at present to 20% by the end of 2007.

  Ryan Air is expected to open this year routes from Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second biggest city, to Britain, Spain and Germany.

  Italy's Myair and German Wings are also due to start operating to and from Sofia this summer.

  New rules have come into force about the identity cards of European Union citizens permanently resident in Bulgaria.

  The changes follow the recently adopted law for EU citizens and members of their families entering, residing and leaving Bulgaria. The law, in force since October 3 last year, makes a distinction between EU citizens and nationals of other countries. For the latter, all previous regulations remain unchanged. This distinction is in line with Bulgaria’s obligations to the EU since the country became a member state on January 1 2007.

  The new regulation replaces the identity cards (lichni karti) issued to EU citizens living in Bulgaria with new residence permit cards, or certificates as they are officially called. These certificates are still issued by the National Police Service Migration Directorate. As seen in the sample below, the new cards do not have a picture of the holder, nor do they give the national identification number (EGN in Bulgarian). The document contains only the name, sex, date of birth, date of registration, date of expiry and a police stamp, possibly making forgery very easy. Strangely enough, this change of rules was not made public by the Migration Directorate and it became known to The Sofia Echo only through a reader of the newspaper, a citizen of an EU country, whose identity card had expired and had to get a new one.

  The Sofia Echo questioned Tsvetomira Stoimenova of the Migration Directorate.

  The mountains of eastern Europe offer potential bargains for winter holiday homebuyers. Peter Conradi checks out the options
 The reaction among fellow diners at the London dinner party was one of amazement mingled with mild disdain. “You’re going to Bulgaria to ski?” said one, his lip slightly curled, as the conversation turned away briefly from the relative merits of Klosters and Lech. “My brother went, and said it wasn’t bad, considering... ”
  The rest of the sentence was left hanging — but considering what? That Bulgaria was run by the Communists for 50 years? That it is almost twice as far away as the Alps? Or maybe that the country has recently acquired something of a reputation as a cheap-as-chips destination for holidaying on a shoestring?

  The reality is rather different. Bansko, Bulgaria’s prime ski resort, is not about to challenge Chamonix, Verbier, St Moritz or any of the other established alpine resorts for the title of Europe’s most exciting, or indeed, most glamorous, destination. Yet suddenly, this Slavic Ivan-come-lately is racing up on the outside, bidding for the 2014 Winter Olympics and expanding at a prodigious rate.