Germans Rediscover Bulgaria As Holiday Destination

Germans are once again starting to book Bulgarian holidays after a two-year withdrawal, Dnevnik daily reported on March 11. The positive signals came from the last week's International Tourism Bourse (ITB), the annual business-to-business industry event, the daily claimed.

Industry experts said German bookings in Bulgaria should see a five-per-cent increase this year to around 400 000 in 2008. Statistics from Bourgas and Varna airports on the Black Sea showed that 390 000 German tourists came to the country on trips arranged by tour operators and that is considered the official figure, but the total number of Germans that landed in the two airports was 600 000.

Three to four years ago, the number of German tourists peaked, but was followed by a significant drop as the German economy slowed down and the quality of tourist services in Bulgaria worsened.

“The German market is reviving,” Kalin Soutev from ITS, one of the largest German tour operators booking holidays in Bulgaria, was quoted as saying by Dnevnik daily. ITS is a subsidiary of Rewe Gruppe.

The tour operator expects to book Bulgarian holidays for 140 000 German tourists this year, versus 120 000 in 2007. Alltours operator is forecasting a 15 per cent increase in bookings to around 33 000.

Bulgaria could hardly attract affluent German tourists, Alltours representative's Ventsislav Tanchev told Dnevnik. But even those who are now booking holidays in Bulgaria have discerning demands towards the products offered.

Bulgaria has an image of a cheap tourist destination on the British market, as well, according to teletextholidays.co.uk tourism web site's research. Traditionally preferred destinations such as Spain and France have also dropped in the top tourism destinations charts because of the rising prices of accommodation and food.

Bulgaria could hardly attract affluent German tourists, Alltours representative's Ventsislav Tanchev told Dnevnik. But even those who are now booking holidays in Bulgaria have discerning demands towards the products offered.