News

“Berkovitsa Balkan” project – a good opportunity for sport and tourism
*with the kind cooperation of Berkovitsa municipal

The highest peak in Berkovitsa Mountain – Kom /2016/, offers the best conditions for alpine skiing in the western part of Stara Planina. The region has good prerequisites for development of a mountain, climatic and tourism resort of local and national significance.

The sport tourism area is situated in the Berkovitsa part of Stara Planina, over 900 meters and up to 1940 meters above the sea level. Its natural development spreads along the region from Kom peak to Berkovitsa and Barzaya village.
The relief is various and is positioned to the north and north east, with an average inclination of 10 and 50%. The snow cover lasts at least 4 months.
The now existing piste is 800 meters and is serviced by two ski drags.

 Bulgaria's EU accession on January 1 won't send up the cost of the ski lift passes, a poll of Standart shows. Bulgaria's four big winter resorts, Bansko, Borovets, Pamporovo and Vitosha, announced that this winter they won't increase the prices of ski services. Bansko and Pamporovo keep their tradition and preserve the preferential prices for the Bulgarian tourists who are considered regular guests.

Bansko uses 75 snow cannons to fight the global warming effect. This beautiful winter resort is an undoubted frontrunner when it comes to the variety of services and their cost. The swanky resort is the only in Bulgaria which offers 65 kilometers of ski runs.

This season Pamporovo resort has included the price of the insurance in the cost of the ski-lift passes. The skiers can enjoy 22 kilometers of ski runs maintained with the help of five snow-making machines. Lyubomir Stankiisky, head of the resort's ski school, has supervised in person the implementation of safety measures and the cleaning of the ski runs.

 The head of the state Agency for Tourism (AT), Mario al-Djebouri, requested on December 7 that the AT take control over issuing construction permits in resorts. Al-Djebouri believed the move could help control the construction boom in the resorts.

 Responsibility for construction in resorts has to be focused in one place, said al Djebouri on private-channel bTV. At present, the Regional Development and Public Works Ministry, the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, the Environment and Water Affairs Ministry, and municipal administrations each play a role in permitting. But none of those institutions exercise responsibility development, al-Djebouri said.

 By the end of 2006, AT will present its new strategy for promotion of Bulgaria as a tourism destination. The new strategy will emphasise new spa, golf and cultural tourism. For these purposes, AT's 2007 budget was doubled to 13 million leva.

 Data from the National Statistical Institute shows that tourism generates 12.5 per cent of Bulgaria's GDP, including nine per cent from international tourism. A total of 170 000 people are currently directly employed in Bulgaria's tourism sector, but together with the accompanying sectors their numbers reached 300 000 peoplе.  

 The mostly frequented mountain of the two-million-large Bulgarian capital Sofia is attractive during any season with two wildlife reserves, three climatic zones, highest peak Cherni Vruh, varied flora and fauna, curative mineral springs and a rare natural phenomenon - а Moraines-bed.

Vitosha is a popular mountain resort for winter holidays and skiing, with modern hotels and ski facilities.

In the over-one-century history of the city Vitosha has become a symbol of Sofia, benefiting it with a rare natural advantage shared by few big cities globally.

On the peak itself, Cherni Vrah (2,290m) besides the meteorological station and the base of the Mountain Rescue Brigade, there is a tourist station where one can find shelter in bad weather.

It is the cradle of hiking tourism in Bulgaria with the date August 27, 1895 considered to be the beginning of the organized tourist movement in the country. Upon the invitation of the renowned writer and democrat Aleko Konstantinov 300 men and women then climbed the peak - something incredible and unbelievable for the time.

 Individuals and companies from European Union states that are permanently based in Bulgaria will be able to buy land for a second home here, and will have eased access to ownership of farmland.

This is in terms of amendments to the Ownership Act, the first reading of which was approved by Parliament on December 8.

Reporting from Parliament, Bulgarian news agency BTA said that the amended act replaced the term "foreigner" with "national of a (EU) member state" enabling EU citizens and European Economic Area citizens - meaning the EU countries and Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein - to be able to buy land in accordance with an approved international treaty.

Foreigners would also be able to inherit land, according to the amendments.        

 Sun, snow, ski, snowboard and many emotions – that’s how the new skiing season in Bansko was officially opened on 16. December 2006. The event gathered a great number of ski lovers from Bansko, Bulgaria and foreign countries. Special guests were the ski legend Mark Ghirardelli, his young virtuos colleague Rainer Herbs and the minister of Economy end Energetic of Bulgaria Mr. Rouemen Ovcharov. The three of them showed great skiing skills on the slopes.

The program was well organized, and the shining sun exhilarated the visitors of the ski resort. The official opening took place on the Shiligarnika site in 12 o’clock, where ski and snowboard instructors demonstrated different techniques for riding, suitable for both beginners and advanced skiers. The group for synchronize riding, which entertained the public with perfect downhill following the tact of the music and formation of complicated figures.     

 The famous Irish low cost airplane company - Ryan air will open regular cheap flights from The International airport in Plovdiv to Germany, England and Spain. This was announced yesterday by the executive director of the airport Plamen Nikolov. It is expected the flights of the first worldwide low cost airplane company to start in August.
It is not accidental the fact that Plovdiv is the chosen town. The disposal of the town and its airport goes hand in hand with the philosophy of the company, which exactly is the existence of regular bus transport to the capital and the international resorts, also to historical finds. It is even already specified the exact airport that will take the landing planes in Germany – Hahn, which is 80 km. away from Frankfurt.
The airports in Spain and England are still not chosen. The prices offered by the airplane company will be competitive to the prices of the bus tickets to the same destinations. Yesterday the transport minister in Bulgaria - Peter Mutafchiev, inspected the international airport, few days before the winter charter program to start. (It starts on 23-th of December)
The passenger’s terminal is renovated. 160 000 lv. were invested in the repair work. The most important part of the renovation is the new automatic luggage checking system, which is now in process of 72-hours testing. 480 passengers will be served per hour using the new equipment of the airport.
According to the minister of transport the airport will be ready to be given under concession in March 2007.

 The papers have been full of headlines warning us of the flood of migrants queuing to come to the UK on January 1st - the day when Bulgaria joins the European Union.
So, it was hardly a surprise when we turned up at Sofia airport to be greeted as 'GDFs' (God Damn Foreigners) by our local fixer Ogi Znatev.

He may have been joking, but there was a clear undercurrent of resentment in the way his fellow countrymen were being portrayed in the British media. We were sent to Bulgaria to produce a series of reports on the country joining the EU.

Having read up on a few basic rules (Bulgaria is one of the rare places in the world where shaking your head means yes and nodding your head means no), Working Lunch correspondent, Simon Gompertz, cameraman, Hume Fairholme and myself went to find out.

Bulgaria is home

Life in Bulgaria isn't as depressing as I thought it would be. While the Tower Blocks where most city dwellers live look bleak from the outside, what we found inside was a pleasant surprise.

We visited a "typical" Bulgarian family living in Sofia. Dragomir Nenkov was a graphic designer earning the equivalent of £235 a month, but he still managed to own his flat, run a car and provide enough for his wife and nine month old baby. That's not to say life isn't tight. There's no money left for saving or for a pension. But they seemed happy. And did they want to leave? No. Bulgaria is their home.

That was also the impression we got when visiting the university. Not many of the students we spoke to wanted to get out. On the contrary, they were optimistic about the EU and what it would mean for them. Anyone wanting to go, we were told, had already left.

   A number of small villages in the Smolyan region will offer additional accommodation to meet the tourist interest during the Christmas holidays.

Most of the villages along Arda River will offer extra accommodation. The total number of hotels in the region is to reach 38, Focus news agency reported.

All of the houses and hotels in the villages will offer different tourism attractions and have already been booked for Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
            During the winter season Mogilitsa and Arda villages will offer ski opportunities. The two make use of small ski tracks located nearby. Prices for facility usage will be minimal, municipal representatives said.

One of the main ways to develop further tourism opportunities in the region was the setting up of proper infrastructure, representatives from the villages said. The villages were gaining popularity as a destination, Focus reported.

Darik Radio reported that Bulgarian winter resorts were going to attract foreign tourists mainly from Greece, Serbia and Macedonia. The number of visits from Russia, the UK and Denmark was also expected to go up.

A new ski – center, spread over the area of 2000 sq.m. will be build in the ski resort of Byala Cherkva. This was announced yesterday by the mayor of Kuklen municipality, Dimitar Sotirov. The task to draw up an idea-conception is given to one of the architects of Bansko resort- architect Lekov by the management. The document is expected to be ready until the end of January.
The projects for the ski center have to be worked out over the next year. 6 or 7 ski runs are expected to be built with common length of 10 000 sq.m. They will be situated in the north-west part of the resort, where the snow stays until March, even until April. The displacement reaches up to 500 m. Some of the future ski runs are private area, but the municipality will offer to the owners exchanges. At this moment, there is only one ski slope in Byala Cherkva which is 1500 sq.m. long, it is now supported by the ski club of Plovdiv.
The municipality of Kuklen will involve private investitures in the realizing of the project, the EU funds will be asked for financial help as well.
The main goal of the project is for few years Byala Cherkva to be turned into a spirited ski-resort similar to Pamporovo and Borovets, but to be cheaper and popular also available for the citizens of Plovdiv