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You can’t repeat the same mistakes and expect magical improvement to occur. In fact, you should expect it to get worse. This is exactly what is apparently happening with Bulgarian Black Sea tourism this season, writes Alexander Andreev for Deutsche Welle.
Visible: Luxury restaurant on the beach. Customer: “The drink card, please!” Waiter: “Ah, my… They haven’t printed it yet.” More? The calendar points to July 15.
The facts: The season started late and rather sluggishly, hoteliers and tour operators told the media. Almost nothing happened in June, by mid-July foreign tourists are also still hesitant. A terrible war is raging near Bulgaria – the Ukrainian Snake Island is located only 300-400 kilometers from the Bulgarian beaches, the Covid numbers are going up, European airports are in unprecedented chaos, and people are looking more and more carefully at their wallets, because inflation is eating up their savings for vacation money.
Visible: on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast it is not that cheap at all. The same fruit cocktails as last summer in beach bars cost 20% more. A light lunch for two, consisting mainly of salads and a bottle of wine, in a pretentious restaurant north of Varna without hesitation costs over 100 BGN. In the same restaurant, a carbonated drink or a coffee costs BGN 5. “Products are getting more expensive, there are few customers, you have to make ends meet,” admits a discouraged waiter. The same applies to concessionaires on the beaches, who “kill” with increased prices for umbrellas and sunbeds – there are beaches where the set costs BGN 40.
The facts: Tour operators claim that this season German and Russian tourists are overwhelmingly choosing Turkey over Bulgaria. “The season is late and definitely not going to be good. Last-minute bookings to Bulgaria did not happen in the German market in May and June. This segment turned to Antalya in Turkey, where prices are lower and give bigger discounts, as and to Spain. Families with children avoid Bulgaria because of the proximity to the war in Ukraine,” Ventsislav Tanchev commented to Miroslav Ivanov from TravelNews. Tanchev is the manager of Sun Tours, which represents the German tour operator Alltours in our country. The growth (of Bulgarian tourism – b.a.) on the German market will be 25-30% compared to 2021, but the decline compared to 2019 will be around 40-50%, he explains. According to him, there are more tourists from Poland, but not the volume that was expected.
The facts: Things seem to be doing best in the medical and spa tourism segment. In 2020, Bulgaria ranked among the 15 countries whose options for balneotherapy and outpatient therapy are recognized as effective by the 109 mandatory health funds in Germany. Dental and eye clinics, spas, massages and mud baths, procedures with mineral water or with modern technology – there is a good offer on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, but not everywhere has the necessary qualified staff. And the traditional mentality, rooted in the times of NRB and “Balkanturist”, also has its say.
Visible: An unkind woman answers the call number at the 24-hour medical center in a large resort north of Varna. Client: “Are you doing any kind of procedure?” The unkind woman: “I don’t know, I’m just giving hours to review.” Customer: “Can you check?” The unkind woman: “I can’t. I have to go to the other building.”
The facts: Tour operators claim that this year there are relatively more tourists on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast than Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia – and this is also visible to the naked eye. North of Varna you will traditionally encounter the ubiquitous Romanians, although their numbers seem to have decreased. However, the number of Russians has certainly decreased – for understandable reasons. It is already difficult for them to get to Bulgaria, the journey takes a long time, returning to Russia may also encounter problems. Calls for a boycott against Russian tourists also appeared on Bulgarian social networks. “The brats expect that we all speak Russian here!” – writes, for example, one overexcited user.
Visible: Experience really shows that very few of the Russians owning property in Bulgaria are making good progress with Bulgarian. “Did you learn Bulgarian?” – I ask an elderly Russian customer in the hair salon. “Poka esche net” (“Not yet”), he retorts sullenly. And he proudly adds that he listens to the news in Bulgarian and understands everything. At least that.
Visible: On top of that, the season, at least along the northern Black Sea coast, started with very dirty water and dolphin carcasses on the sand.
The facts: Experts claim that powerful sonar on warships in the Black Sea has confused the “navigational system” of the lovable aquatic mammals – nearly 3,000 dolphins have died as a result. The locals also claim that there were fewer fish in the sea, that there were no seagulls and glarus.
The facts: When you listen to the speech of Bulgarian tourists along the northern Black Sea coast, you can’t help but notice that the Sofia pronunciation is almost absent. “Sofians prefer Greece or the southern Black Sea coast” – this is what you will hear from any lifeguard or waiter on the beach. The cars with Bulgarian registration in the parking lot are mainly from Varna, Dobrich, Shumen, Silistra, Targovishte, Razgrad, Ruse – these are the tourists who are saving the season in the north this year. Otherwise, there is nothing new, the typical events and characters are repeated with painful persistence:
Visible: 4 pm. Under an umbrella next to a large refrigerator with ice cream sit two gentlemen with abundant body mass and a lot of gold on it, but with little hair and small foreheads. Customer: “Can I have an ice cream from the fridge?” Chain #1: “It can’t, it’s closed.” Customer: “In what sense?” Chain No. 2 just waved his hand indifferently.
Same mistakes, and you expect improvement?
Otherwise, the Bulgarian Black Sea coast is beautiful. And the food is delicious. There are even well-maintained oases of civilized sea tourism here and there.
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