What's new in Property and Tourism in Bulgaria?
It’s Monday and there is so much news relevant to the property and tourism industries in Bulgaria, unfortunately not all of it is good news. But, as we try and bring our members a balanced and impartial picture of what is happening in Bulgaria we include all news both good and bad.
First up news from Novinite:
20% of Hotels on Bulgaria Black Sea Coast Closed down
July 20, 2009,
20% of Bulgaria's Black Sea coast hotels have shut down over the crisis. One-fifth of the hotels on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast have already been shut down over the lack of tourists at the supposed height of the tourist season. The situation is worst along the Southern Black Sea coast, and especially in the resort towns of Sozopol, Primorsko, Tsarevo, and Chernomorets, the Sega Daily reported. In these towns, only 20% of the total capacity of the local hotels is being utilized. The paper points out that the crisis affects not only smaller family hotels but also larger establishments.
At the same time, a number of hotel owners in the south have indicated they intended to convert their hotels into nursing homes. Meanwhile, the union of hotel managers and owners in the Golden Sands resort in the north is requesting that the Varna Municipality lower the daily municipal fees the hotels pay per tourist by 25% for next year. The hotel industry expects that 2010 will be even worse than 2009 in terms of the number of foreign tourists.
Varna Municipality Keeps Local Tourism Tax
July 20, 2009,
The City Council of Bulgaria's Black Sea city of Varna voted Monday to keep the local tourism tax at its present level. The councilors did not confirm their earlier move to decrease the tax by 50%, which had been disputed by the Varna Mayor, Kiril Yordanov. Yordanov said the Municipal Administration was spending a lot on supporting the local tourism, and gave as an example the tourist information center that is fully funded by the municipality, and the local police and fire brigade in the resorts that cost the Varna budget BGN 500 000 per year.The Mayor said the Municipality had collected BGN 1,003 M from the tourism tax so far.Varna Municipality includes some of Bulgaria's top Black Sea resorts including Golden Sands.The local union of hotel owners had requested that the Municipality lowered the tourism tax by at least 25%.
The Sofia Echo is reporting:
Dolphinarium project in Nessebur on the verge of being scrapped
July 20, 200
The town hall of the ancient port town of Nessebur plans to offer a land swap to a company that plans to build a dolphinarium in the old part of the town, Dnevnik daily said on July 19. The proposed deal would see Festa Holding give up its 2.3ha in the historic section of Nessebur in exchange for 1.1ha in the new part of town, Dnevnik quoted the municipality as saying. Festa Holding's plans for a dolphinarium should not, under any circumstances, allowed to be built in the old part of town, because the area is a cultural monument, protected by Unesco, the municipality said.
Festa Holding bought the 2.3ha land plot in old Nessebur under the previous administration of the town hall. The company said it wanted to build a dolphinarium but the current administration has been reluctant to allow the plans to go ahead, thus the proposed land swap. Festa Holding claims it has paid the full price for the land, but was yet to have ownership of the property transferred. Petya Slavova, chief executive and shareholder in Festa Holding, said that the company was " prepared to scrap the proposed construction of the dolphinarium, if this is aganst the will of the public; instead, the company is prepared to undertake 'alternative investment projects,'" Dnevnik said.
Festa Holding owns the dolphinarium in Varna, along with hotels in Slunchev Bryag (Sunny Beach), the resort across the bay from Nessebur.
Well personally I think this is good news. How did they get permission to buy the land in a World Heritage site anyway? What do you think?
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