At the start of the summer season: Cost of renting beach umbrellas and sunbeds in Varna will not be raised

The concessionaires of beaches in Varna, the largest city and resort on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, will not raise the prices of renting beach accessories. The price for an umbrella will be BGN 5, the same will be the cost of renting a deck chair. The prices in resorts near Varna will be in the range from BGN 8 to BGN 10.

Despite the cool weather in May, the preparation of the beaches for the summer season has begun. Once the sand has been levelled by machines, it will be cleaned daily.

"Preparations for the season have started. Usually around May 24, we prepare the beaches for the places that are more frequently visited. I exclude, of course, the resort complexes, where some of the beaches are already prepared," said Andrei Vassilev, representative of the concessionaire of the beach in Varna and the resort of St. st. Konstantin and Helena.

This year the inflation index, which determines concession fees, has been raised by 17%. The concession and rental payments to the state are also expected to be indexed by the same amount.

"We expect the fixing of some coefficient by which it will be normally indexed, because after all, if this year we keep the prices and do not increase them, then next year it will be felt on the pocket of tourists and those who visit the beach," Andrei Vassilev said.

The free-of-charge area of the beach is 50 percent. However, residents of Varna said that in some places paid umbrellas and sunbeds are in the most preferred strip near the sea:

Bulgarian beaches are extremely clean, extremely maintained. It used to be possible to put a towel directly by the sea, even on the beachfront, now this is impossible. There are sunbeds everywhere and the prices are very high.

- The number of umbrellas should be reduced a little and maybe toilets, portable, should be placed. Otherwise, the beaches have everything. It is better than Greece. We have sand, cleanliness, there are more stones there.

For this season, the salaries of lifeguards have been increased by 40%, but the problem of shortage of staff in the industry remains.