News

 Bulgaria's Black Sea resorts have received nearly 1.5 million foreign tourists for the 2006 summer season, shows a survey of the Analysis of Tourism Institute.
The numbers were announced at the tourism forum "Bulgaria's Mountains".

Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria, will have its road infrastructure fully renovated, at a cost of EUR 25 M.
Many of the city's main roads are said to be in a poor condition, and there has been no major overhaul for decades.
By the end of the year alone, about EUR 9 M should be absorbed.
The city will use a credit from Raiffeisenbank, which has won a contest for the project, Investor.bg reported Tuesday.

National Roads Agency received numerous offers for two renovation of coastal roads, Darik Radio reported.Six companies presented their offers to renovate the road connecting the coastal towns of Kavarna, Balchik, Kranevo and the Golden Sands resort, Darik said. The section was 20.5 km long. The highest offer amounted to 4.7 million euro and the lowest, to 3.7 million euro.

A new report has revealed that Bulgaria is making good progress towards meeting its required targets for entry into the European Union.Bulgaria is confident of accession into the EU in 2007 and despite an earlier report insisting that some improvements would be needed, the latest research from the EU has found that the country is now making good progress. It had previously been stated that there were a number of areas that Bulgaria needed to work on to guarantee its accession and the latest report suggests that the country is now well on its way to meeting those targets.Franco Frattini, European justice, freedom and security commissioner, has stated that Bulgaria is doing well in its attempts to improve the battle against organised crime and fraud – two areas in which the country had been ordered to improve. Mr Frattini is visiting the country ahead of its expected accession next year and according to the Sofia Echo, he has been impressed with the efforts he has seen to improve the country.

A well-preserved 5,000-year-old golden dagger recovered from a tomb in Bulgaria has been described as a "sensational" find that sheds light on the long-lost civilisation of Thrace and shows the Thracians to be sophisticated metal-workers rather than illiterate, bloodthirsty savages. The artefact, which archaeologists think dates to 3,000BC, is the latest in a series of finds in central Bulgaria that have led to the region being called the "Valley of the Thracian Kings"."It's really a sensational discovery," said Bozhidar Dimitrov, head of the Bulgarian National Museum of History.

Latino star Raul Paz, born in Cuba, landed in Sofia in a cap and glasses-on manner more appropriate to a tourist than to a celebrity as he is.
Paz, who lives in France, has come here to give the official opening of Jazz Festival Bansko 2006 kicking off with a latino fiesta on Tuesday.
The French-Cuban legend will perform hits of his latest album Revolucion recorded in the studios of Buena Vista Social Club in Havana.

French and Italian companies specialising in congress tourism showed interest in buying Plovdiv International Fair exhibition centre, the fair's executive director Yordan Radev said.Radev told 24 Chassa newspaper that over the past few years the fair attracted many foreign companies as it was the largest exhibition centre in South-Eastern Europe. He predicted that interest in the centre would increase after Bulgaria joined the EU.The fair's board of directors had an ambitious programme to increase the fair's exhibition capacity but the project required fresh investment, Radev said.

The new terminal of Sofia Airport will be ready by September and meet its first visitor in November, according to the Transport Ministry.
The new landing-strip is expected to be ready next month but it will be linked with the old one at a later stage, Bulgarian Transport Minister Petar Mutafchiev said while inspecting the site Monday.
Austrian company Strabag has claimed several delays and also additional funding to complete the expansion and modernisation of the airport.

Bulgaria’s First Investment Bank (FIBank) said on August 28 it had launched a service for extending mortgage loans to foreign citizens.
Theese loans, which are for up to 20 years, have a floating interest rate of 6.9 per cent for the whole period. The interest goes to 8.4 per cent with downpayment between 20 and 30 per cent.
FiBank has become only the third bank in Bulgaria, after DSK Bank, owned by Hungarian OTP, and Bulbank, the local arm of Italy’s UniCredit Group, to start offering mortgage loans to foreigners to support purchases of Bulgarian real estate.
The move is considered by most Bulgarian banks on one side as risky because of the inability of some of them to check the credit record of a foreigner. Others believe it is inefficient to offer mortgage funding to western Europeans since the interest rates in Bulgaria are higher than those in most other European countries.
According to Jonathan Harfield, chief executive director of FIBank, however, offering lending to foreigners should be a normal move for any Bulgarian bank.
“If foreign people wish to buy property in London, Paris, New York or Lisbon or anywhere else, it is not difficult by any means to get a local bank to finance a mortgage. This is a normal business transaction. The passport somebody holds does not determine whether they are creditworthy,” Harfiled said in an interview with The Sofia Echo on August 28.
He believes that the fears of most of the local banks are unjustified.

The shaping work of the first six holes at Lighthouse Golf Resort, Bulgaria is progressing well and the installation of the drainage system has started. Three of the blocks located at Green District are on a shale stage, the construction of the other three blocks are already updated. Ian Woosnam is working alongisde European Golf Design on this course and at Pirin Golf Club too. Construction is underway on an 18 hole, par 71 course in Bulgaria. Lighthouse Golf Resort is located on the Black Sea shore, between the resort town of Balchik and the rock capital of Bulgaria – Kavarna The distance from Varna International Airport Is less than 40 minutes.