Thirty yachts vie at the Victory sailing regatta near St. Vlas sea resort
For two days already yachts from all over Bulgaria are “invading” the yacht port in the Bulgarian summer resort of St. Vlas (Sveti Vlas). The reason is in the sailing regatta which is the marine event of the year - some 30 yachts with a total crew of more than 200 people take part in it.
“Twenty brand-new speedboats and yachts are advertised for sale and waiting for their new owners,” Georgi Mihov, head of the St. Vlas yacht club explained. The cheapest of them stands at 1040 euro and the most expensive - 53,000 euro.
Bigshots from Bulgaria and abroad have berthed their sailing boats at the ports along the southern Black Sea coast - in Bourgas, Nessebar and Djuni. Two yachts of the Russian riches and one owned by a big European company are resting in the Sozopol port.
Oldest Thracian Town Discovered
Sensational archeological finding near the village of Vassil Levski, Karlovo region, central Bulgaria is expected to attract thousands of tourists. “The oldest Thracian city with a large royal residence dating back to over 2500 ago was discovered,” said archeologist Kostadin Kissiov. He is the leader of the excavation works with the Museum of Archeology in Bulgaria’s second largest city of Plovdiv. We started a year ago but it is now that our efforts were rewarded with a finding that has no match, Kissiov thinks. He dates the site to the 5th century BC. It spreads on the vast for its time area of 2.5 ha. This is the oldest Thracian settlement ever found. Read the rest of this entry »
Bulgarians Pay Dearer for Seaside Vacation
Book your hotel & summer holiday in Bulgaria sea resorts now!
The Bulgarian parliament approved lower VAT on tourist services only for foreign tourists. Under the pressure of the so-called “king’s lobby” headed by ex-PM and former Minister of Labor Lydia Shuleva the parliamentary budget committee agreed on a 7-percent VAT only for hotel services for organized groups. This will be a benefit to only foreign holidaymakers who come to Bulgaria in groups.
If a Bulgarian goes on a business trip his hotel stay will be levied with a 20-percent tax. In practice, currently foreigners pay much less for a vacation in Bulgaria than natives do. They pre-pay an all-inclusive package, so a roomnight in a three-star hotel in Slantchev Bryag, for instance, costs them only 5-6 euro. Bulgarians pay several times more for the same accommodation. Read the rest of this entry »
Bulgaria hopes for 10% rise in tourism revenue
Bulgaria can hope for a rise in tourism revenue by up to 10 per cent this year, Government officials say.
Meanwhile industry sources make less upbeat forecasts and even fear the revenue would fall, SEE News news service reported in an industry analysis published on June 15.
Underdeveloped infrastructure, unrestrained hotel construction activity in some of the country’s largest seaside and mountain resorts and a shortage of skilled workforce in the tourism sector are all causes for concern, Bulgarian tour operators say.
Tourism contributes about 12 per cent of Bulgaria’s gross domestic product and tourism revenue helps the country partly offset the rise in its trade deficit. Last year, 4.84 million foreign tourists visited the country, bringing revenue of 1.932 billion euro. Read the rest of this entry »
Raging Sea Swallows Part of Irakli, Nessebar declares state of emergency
Seaside resorts flooded
The stormy sea swallowed a large part of Irakli beach after a torrential rain flooded the southern Black Sea coast. A hellish storm was raging yesterday across the country - from Bourgas to Sofia. The resorts of Obzor, Slantchev Bryag, Sozopol, Nessebar and Pomorie suffered the worst damages. Twenty-six buildings, mostly hotels, have been virtually submerged. Dozens of Civil Protection teams are working around the clock draining the flooded basements and ground floors. Torrents deluged the streets of Ravda, Pomorie and Slantchev Bryag. Cars and pedestrians got stuck in muddy waters. The road between Obzor and Varna was blocked. A huge wave in the Pomoriisko Lake swept away dozens of cars to the roadside fields. The infernal rain blocked off over 30 holidaymakers in the campsite near Irakli, Obzor and Nessebar. Five of them had a miraculous narrow escape. They managed to get in ouch by phone with the local police and the Civil Protection Agency which arrived in short while.
Over 1,500 Tourist Stuck at the Seaside
The storm cut off the town of Sinemorets from the world; it is impossible to supply the tourists with food and bare necessities Read the rest of this entry »
Hotels Bulgaria: Book your hotel & summer holiday in Golden Sands Bulgaria now! Accommodation Bulgaria
Fireworks Open 50th Golden Sands Season
Golden Sands (Zlatni Pyasatsi) is the largest one on the northern Black Sea coast
The jubilee 50th summer season in Bulgaria’s posh Black Sea resort of Zlatni Piasatsi (Golden Sands) was launched with dazzling fireworks. A new Ferris wheel that will become an emblem of the resort was started. This year the summer season began smoothly - there were no unfinished constructions and the new infrastructure of the resort, worth of 2 million levs (about 1 million euro) is in perfect shape. Hotelkeepers expect a tourist boom this summer, guests from Scandinavian countries and Iceland will be most numerous this year. Romanians will also frequent the resort in weekends.
Deputy mayor of Varna (Bulgaria’s Black Sea capital) Miroslav Tsonev wished the resort to welcome over three million guests this summer
Bulgaria’s Economy Grew by 5.6%
Bulgaria’s GDP grew by 5.6% in the first quarter over the same period last year, reported the National Statistical Institute. The relatively high economic growth is preserved as last year’s GDP was 5.9% for the same period. Bulgaria’s GDP in the first quarter stood at 9.815 billion levs (1 euro = 1.95 levs) or 1268 levs per capita.
The economic growth is achieved mainly through the 8.8% expansion in industry and 6% increase in the services sector. The agriculture sector continues to decrease and now accounts for less than 5% of Bulgaria’s GDP.
Investments in the country grew by 21.4% in the first quarter, which explains the growing trade deficit that reached 2.4 billion levs. Read the rest of this entry »
Over 70% of Bulgarians Cannot Afford a Vacation
A week on the southern Black Sea coast or fresh air in the country is the award for a year of labour
Most often Bulgarians under 30 spend their holiday at the seaside
Every fourth Bulgarian will go on a holiday this summer and every eighth has not decided yet whether to do so. Preferences for a vacation companion vary as follows - 28% will spend the holiday with their family and 19%, mostly under 30 years of age, with friends. Other 3% plan to vacation alone. Sixty-two percent of the summer vacations are planned for the seaside and every tenth prefers the mountains, 4% will stay in rehabilitation or spa centres or will go to their home place. Read the rest of this entry »
Bulgaria’s EU Membership in 2007 - Goal of the Union
There are good reasons to be optimistic, Bulgaria’s PM, Sergei Stanishev, says
European Parliament supports Bulgaria’s EU membership as of January 1 2007
The European Parliament gave a clear signal that it supports the membership of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU as of January 1, 2007. In a unanimously voted resolution MEPs extended an appeal to the leaders of EU countries to stick to their commitments at their summit in Brussels on June 15 and 16 for the timely admission of the two Balkan countries into the bloc. Read the rest of this entry »
Weathermen: Choose July for a Seaside Vacation
Do not go out without an umbrella or raincoat in June, weathermen warn
If you do not know yet when to go to the seaside, choose July, weathermen say. This will be the hottest and driest summer month. It will rain almost everyday till the end of June. Umbrellas will be an indispensable accessory, especially in the afternoons. Showers are expected today in central and southern Bulgaria; in the east it will mizzle. Read the rest of this entry »
