Optimism as first tourists hit the beaches ahead of Bulgaria’s 2018 summer holiday season
As Bulgarian capital Sofia and other cities basked in weather unusually warm for late April, the tourist season at the seaside stirred nearly a month earlier than usual as well.
The first wave of tourists already was at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, at the Albena, Golden Sands and Sunny Beach resorts, Bulgarian National Television said on April 29.
Hoteliers at the coast foresee an increase in the number of tourists of 15 per cent compared with summer 2017.
Increased numbers of tourists from Poland, the United Kingdom and Germany are expected. The first tourists to arrive at Sunny Beach are mostly from Israel, Norway and Sweden.
The reason for the earlier start to the summer season on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast is, however, not the good weather – forecasts for Bourgas envisage temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius over the next 10 days (while Sofia is set for the mid to high 20s) – but the launch of low-cost flights to Bourgas Airport.
Bourgas mayor Dimitar Nikolov said that there was a lot of interest, and the flights to Bourgas were about 90 per cent full, which was well above the initial forecasts.
However, the problem of a lack of qualified staff for Bulgaria’s hospitality industry at the seaside has not been solved. Hotel owners again report a shortage of waiters, bartenders and room cleaning staff.
Hoteliers say that they have reservations right up to the end of September, indicating a prolonged tourist season for Bulgaria in summer 2018.
(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
