EUR 2.7 billion are revenues from foreign tourists and BGN 1 billion from Bulgarian tourists, announced the Chairman of the Bulgarian Tourist Chamber, Tsvetan Tonchev. He added that there was a very good outlook for the winter season as well. "Bulgaria deserves at least EUR 5 B in revenues from international tourism. This has already happened in other countries, for instance Croatia has already attracted EUR 8-9 B, Montenegro over EUR 3 B and Finland over EUR 5 B. Not to mention Greece and Turkey," he explained. Tonchev suggested that Bulgaria should develop rehabilitation- and sports-related tourism. He concluded by saying that he expected hotel construction to continue into 2012.
Source: Monitor (06.01.2012)

Burgas and Varna within the Top 100 global tourist destinations Bourgas and Varna are ranked among the global Top 100 most dynamic cities that attracted the greatest number of tourists in 2010. The ranking was prepared by Euromonitor International. Bourgas occupies the 84th position, having attracted 1.535 million visitors, and Varna is 86th in Top 100, with 1.501 million tourists. However, the flow of tourists in both cities dropped slightly in 2010, compared to 2009. The decrease was 0.2% for Varna and 1.8% for Bourgas. Hong Kong, visited by nearly 20 million people tops the list, followed by Singapore, London, Macau, Bangkok, Antalya, Kuala Lumpur, New York, Paris and Istanbul. “During the new season, the owners of hotels at the Dobroudja Black Sea coast will keep their prices unchanged from last summer,” said Dimitar Dimitrov, Head of the Regional Association of Hotel and Restaurant Owners in Bobrich. A trifling price increase is expected at the Albena resort. “It will be about 2-3% on average,” Krasimir Stanev, Executive Director of the resort, told Klassa. He said that some hotels will keep their prices at last year’s level. Currently, the greatest number of bookings for Albena are from German tourists. The growth is 15%, compared to 2011. Some 2% to 10% increase is expected on the Russian market.
Source: Class (17.01.2012)

The Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) said on Monday it will replace two of the 15 components of its blue-chip index SOFIX as of March 19. The Sofia bourse has decided to drop from the index local resort operator Albena [BUL:6AB] and Corporate Commercial Bank [BUL:6C9] and to replace them with tobacco group Bulgartabac Holding [BUL:57B] and real estate investment trust ELARG Agricultural Land Opportunity Fund [BUL:4EC], data published on the BSE website showed. The SOFIX index tracks the 15 most liquid shares on the BSE.
Source: Capital (13.03.2012)

Albena JSC will attract tourists from China with a combined routes, which together with the rest of the seaside will offer visits to neighboring countries. Managers of the holiday resort will represent their offers for the new summer season during the tourism fair in Beijing on 18-20 April, the executive director of the company Krasimir Stanev said. According to him Chinese tourists show more interest when the recreation on the beach is combined with shopping and visits to cultural and historical sights. Albena will offer a trip to neighboring Constance, the Danube Delta and the Romanian capital Bucharest. Circuitous routes will lead Chinese tourists through Eastern Bulgaria to Istanbul, Turkey.
Source: Dnevnik (17.04.2012)

Albena resort to attract Chinese tourists with combined routes The Black Sea resort Albena JSC will attract Chinese tourists by offering combined tourist routes, which will include sightseeing visits to neighboring countries along with a holiday programme at our seaside. Albena JSC will be presented at the China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market in Beijing, which started today and will continue until April 20, by Deputy Director of Sales and Marketing, Yovka Strashilova and Chief Financial Officer of Albena JSC, Ivelina Grozeva. The CEO, Krassimir Stanev will visit China in June, when a meeting is scheduled with the Deputy Minister of Sport in order to negotiate the participation of Chinese chess players in the international tournament, which is held already every year at the Albena resort. During the China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market, the complex will seek tour operators to conclude contracts for welcoming Chinese tourists to our country, stated before Klassa daily, Rumen Yordanov, Head of the Advertising and PR department with the resort complex. Surveys show that the Chinese tourists are inquisitive and mostly prefer to explore tourist routes, as a result of which Albena JSC has developed tourist routes in southern Romania, Constanta, the Danube Delta, Bucharest, Istanbul and eastern Bulgaria, indicated Yordanov. They will be also presented during the China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market in Beijing. Some of the highlights will emphasise the tourist capacities of our resort. During the visit, Strashilova and Grozeva will be accompanied by Zhivko Dimitrov, organiser of the international chess tournament. He will meet with the President of the Chinese Chess Association. Meetings will be also organized with the most prominent Chinese players involving children, adolescents, boys and girls. Zhivko Dimitrov will also lobby for support to the Albena resort to host the World Chess Olympic Games 2016. This desicion will be made this autumn in Istanbul.
Source: Class (18.04.2012)

No new licenses on beach concession granted. Solely lease contracts signed. Over recent years, no new beach concessions have been granted, except for those concerning the resort complexes Golden Sands, Albena, and St. Konstantin and Elena. Mainly lease contracts have been signed, indicating more ostensibly the concessionaires' outflow, which is mostly due to the high economic requirements and the few opportunities for realisation, stated in an interview for the TV Bulgaria on Air, Ivo Stefanov, Chairman of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Association of Beach Concessionaires (BABC). The organisation opposed the amendments adopted to the Black Seaside Act, proposed by the GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) government, which prompted sharp objections from the mayor, hoteliers and other representatives of the tourism business sector. One of the most serious prohibitions concerns the construction in the 100-m zone from the coastline, which is the so-called first line. According to Stefanov, the mayors' protest against a similar decision is justified because, if adopted, these amendments will not allow the construction of parking lots, which means that tourists will seek a place to park their vehicles far away and will need to carry their entire luggage all the way to the beach. Besides, construction works cannot be implemented on the beach itself, not only because of the imposed bans, but due to purely practical reasons. At about 1 m depth in the sand, water comes out, which impedes the construction of stable and permanent structures. The construction prohibitions will apply only to new construction projects, while those under implementation will not be subject to restriction since the law has no retroactive effect. The envisaged law amendments state that the concessionaires will be obliged to take care of the whole territory of beaches, including grassland, rocky areas and dunes. The dunes are forbidden territory for any construction works, while, according to the amendments, the concessionaires will be obliged to put fences around them and place prohibitive signs, thereby precluding violations of their status. The latter, in turn, will cause an outflow of interest on the part of the current concessionaires and a decline in the interest expressed by the potential leasers of our beaches along the Black Sea coast. According to the Bulgarian state, catering establishments will no longer constitute a percentage of the total area of the ??beach. In practice, however, the option for placing commercial outlets will be reduced by 70%. For the concessionaires, the only secure source of income not dependent on natural conditions are catering establishments. As a result of the applied amendments, the number of these establishments will decrease on average by 30%, which may prove detrimental, stated the Chairman of the BABC Board.
Source: Class (07.05.2012)

Albena JSC - Obrochiste has appointed Annual general meeting on 24.06.2012. Meeting agenda includes: adoption of the Annual Report for Year 2011.
Source: Registry Agency (14.05.2012)

Is there future for all-inclusive service in Bulgaria? Possible ban of service for full boarding in hotels with three stars in the country will lead to serious economic losses to owners. They form their profit thanks to this specific service, which is in high demand mostly by foreigners. In accordance with the new proposal three star basis are allowed to offer full boarding solely if there is possibility to feed at least half of the visitors who are guests of the hotel in their own restaurant. Agency of food’s motivation is that in that way service will improve, as well as it is to fight bad practice of hotels with thousands of beds to feed only a few dozen of them. Bulgaria has serious traditions in offering this format and it is not necessary to be understood as food and lodging at the same place. In last years all-inclusive format has proved itself as preferred by Bulgarians and foreigners tourists just for the chance to plan in advance holiday spending. Especially when it comes to families the format is very convenient because tourist is not worried whether money they dispose of is enough. They want to know how much it will cost the entire vacation in advance, as well.
Source: investor.bg (26.06.2012)