Hotels and restaurants in Bulgaria’s Bansko complain about ‘unfair competition’ from apartment complexes
Police in Bulgaria’s popular mountain resort town of Bansko are being asked to investigate after hotels and restaurants complained of alleged unfair competition from apartment complexes.
Hotel and restaurant owners want authorities to intervene, saying that no tourism tax is being paid by apartment complexes because they are not registered as tourist accommodation facilities.
Hoteliers want a local tourism police to be set up to monitor the activities of the apartment complexes, public broadcaster Bulgarian National Radio said.
The apartments are offering rooms and services at lower prices because they are evading regulations in tourism industry laws, the hoteliers and restaurateurs allege.
“We are losing customers because of this unfair competition, some of us could forfeit our hotels because of being unable to repay bank loans,” the report quoted a hotelier as saying.
Bansko mayor Georgi Ikonomov said that he would do everything possible to set up a special committee before the start of the new winter season in the resort town. The committee’s membership will include local authorities, tax officials, economic crimes police, representatives of the Consumer Protection Commission and hoteliers.
(Photo: Elena Chochkova)
