site.btaTourist Businesses Still Reeling from Pandemic, Ukraine War, Inflation, Burgas Deputy Mayor Says

The tourism industry on the Southern Black Sea coast continues to recover from the blows it suffered in the last few years, such as the COVID pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the severe inflation, said Burgas Deputy Mayor for Tourism and Sports Manol Todorov. He was among the guests at the conference NextHome Black Sea 2024 (a Black Sea forum for holiday properties), held in Burgas on Thursday.

The event brought together developers, property management professionals, architects and other specialists to discuss the challenges and opportunities for investing, designing and managing holiday properties on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

“There is a need for Burgas Region to present a common tourism product abroad. I believe that the initiative of the Tourism Ministry, which finances municipal projects in the area to advertise in strategic markets for our country, is a step in the right direction,” said Todorov.

Nothing happens in winter in coastal cities to attract tourists

The hotel manager of the Bulgaria Hotel in Burgas and Cherno More in Varna complained that nothing happens in the two coastal cities to attract tourists. "Despite the good results, the lack of enough attractive events in the months outside the active summer tourist season to attract tourists remains a problem," Vesselina Popova said during the event.

"The hotels we have in Burgas and Varna are almost identical. The only difference is in terms of year-round occupancy, in Varna it is slightly higher, and in 2023 we reported the highest occupancy. The results in Burgas were also good," Popova pointed out.

"Almost nothing happens in Varna in the winter. We exclude theatre productions, opera performances and a few smaller events. In Burgas the situation is identical. In Varna, however, the situation is alleviated by flights to Varna Airport, including the regular Sofia - Varna line,” she explained.

She reported a decline in the number of Israeli tourists since the start of the military conflict between Israel and Palestine.