Question Mark over Bulgaria’s Tourism Competitiveness
Tourism experts voiced concerns over the risk that Bulgaria faces of quickly running out of resources by overconstructing and urbanizing the landscape, overpopulating the regions of cultural monuments, exhausting human resources and waters.
They participated in а public debate in the town of Blagoevgrad on European initiatives for incentives in the agriculture and tourism sectors. It was part of a series of similar debates, organized by the Delegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria in a bid to disseminate relevant information about the consequences of Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union.
Lyubomir Popyordanov, chairman of the Bulgarian Association for Alternative Tourism (BAAT) and company manager of Odysseia-in Ltd, singled out spa tourism, bird watching and adventure tourism among the success stories for Bulgaria.
The competitiveness of Bulgaria’s tourism however remains in question.
“The competitiveness of Bulgaria’s tourism will be put to the test when neighboring Greece and Turkey start heavy investments in the inland and not just along the coastline,” he said.
It was agreed that the curve of an ever-increasing number of tourists in Bulgaria should not put oil on troubled waters as improper management of resources and poor strategy drag Bulgaria down to the club of the cheapest tourist destinations in Europe.
A SWOT analysis of Bulgaria’s Southwest Planning Region has identified the key need to level intraregional differences and improve infrastructure, it emerged at the seminar, which focused exclusively on the region.
