News

  The ski instructors in Pamporovo are trying to save the season. After working time, they carry snow on blankets and spades to the snowless parts of the working racing tracks. The tow-lifts of the low parts are mounted on the peak, and now three of them can be used on Snejanka, instead of only one. The white sports training shall also be transferred there. Despite the lack of snow, there is 20-cm snow cover on the high parts. Every single moment of appropriate minus temperatures is used for working with the five equipments for artificial snow, which is evenly spread over the route.

  The trampled snow on the north ground near “Malina”, at the beginning of the old one-seat lift also satisfies only the beginners. There is no refusal of reservations – said Lyubomir Sankiiski - Director of the ski school. The latest transfer of 2000 tourists, most of them Irishmen and Englishmen arrived during the weekend. The beginners are satisfied with the good professional qualification and the approach of the ski instructors. The usual ski vacation of the foreigners lasts for 6 days. Only few of them would rather go on excursions instead of skiing. They take great interest in traveling to the Trigrad gorge with viewing of the caves and stopping in Shiroka Laka - the village-reserve for old Rhodopes architecture.

  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.

  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.

  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.

  After a two-year absence, German travel company ITS has decided to include a couple of Bulgaria's ski resorts in its winter '06-'07 catalogue, said the tour operator's local representative Kalin Sutev.

  ITS, which will share with German peer TUI seats on the flights of Bulgarian carrier Air Via, will resume business with ski resorts Borovets and Bansko, said Sutev.

  The company will market Pamporovo because it is unable to ensure on its own or in partnership with other tour operators sufficient passenger load for charter flights to Plovdiv, the closest aerial gateway to the Bulgarian ski resort. The only other option is to bus the tourists from the Sofia International Airport to Pamporovo, a trek that has proven unpopular in the past, said Sutev.

  In 2003, a total of 2,500 Germans booked ski holidays in Bulgaria through ITS, down from around 3,000 the year before.

  Following the pullout of ITS a couple of years ago, two other travel majors - TUI and Thomas Cook, also dropped Pamporovo from their portfolios. The owners of hotels in Pamporovo said at the time this was the first sign that tour operators are shifting their business to Bansko and Borovets due to their proximity to the Sofia airport.Therefore the hotel owners hope urgent measures will be taken to modernise the Plovdiv airport.

  The investment in infrastructure for Bulgaria’s leading winter resorts Borovets, Bansko and Pamporovo in the past couple of years has produced most of the hotels and ski equipment required. This season, significantly less investment in the sphere was needed. The bulk of investors are currently targeting the further development of already existing infrastructure.

  At the same time, winter resorts remain the subject of significant investor interest on behalf of construction companies. Hundreds of permits for the creation of hotels and vacation villages have already been given.

  Fast construction, however, will make fast infrastructure creation more urgent. Even now concessionaires and investors will be forced to provide new ski tracks and lifts to accommodate the needs of the expected higher number of tourists, Dnevnik newspaper reported.

  Data shows in previous years most investors worked on Borovets and Bansko. This season Pamporovo will attract the most investment. The resort will start the season with an additional five km ski track.

  Citizens of Razlog and Bansko will block the road from Simitli to Gotse Delchev in a protest against the introduction of Natura 2000 ecological network.

  Nearly 11 000 people from Razlog and 4000 people from Bansko signed a petition against Natura 2000, Focus news agency reported.

  People protested against the manner in which officials handled the inclusion of terrains in the European ecological network.

  Razlog is going to host a Natura 2000 meeting to which a number of officials have been invited. The President, Water and Environment Minister and Parliament members all received invitations.

  In case the invited officials fail appearing, the citizens of the two towns will start protesting. Only an MP from the United Democratic Forces (UtDF) has confirmed participation so far.

  Two opportunities for construction of an airport in Pirin Mountain are already being discussed, after the mayor of Bansko municipal announced that the region needs a runway for charters with foreign tourists and for private planes.
One of the offers is that the airport should be built in Razlog valley and the other one is for reconstruction of the already existing military airport nearby Gotse Delchev.
This project can be fulfilled after 10 years, but it is necessary. Just in Bansko municipal the total number of beds by 2010 will be 15 thousand for tourists. Dobrinishte resort is also developing with extremely fast temps. The neighboring municipal- Razlog is just 5 kilometers away, but is being formed as a tourism center”, said Alexander Kravarov.
  A huge golf complex is now being constructed just 10 kilometers away from Bansko in Betlovoto site near Razlog.
Over 10 huge balneal complexes will be constructed in Dobrinishte and Banya. This region has the potential to develop as an all season winter destination, thanks to the mineral springs.