Tourism industry predicts 20% more expensive winter season

The tourism industry demanded another compensation from the state. This time because of the high heating bills. Despite the state compensations, and significantly increased prices, they claim that they will not be able to cope.

Back in the summer, the Institute for Analysis and Assessment in Tourism predicted that services in the tourism sector would soar by up to 18% in the winter. The forecasts may come true, the increase may even be higher. Against this backdrop, on the eve of the winter season, hoteliers again demanded state compensation. But how justified are their demands:

"I don't think the demands for continued accommodation of refugees in hotels is justified. These are citizens with a special status in a difficult situation, but the aim is to give them a chance to be able to find work. And when we look at the picture of how many Ukrainians are in the country and how many are working, we will see that perhaps the motivation should be different. There are few settlements, houses that can be used by refugees, rather than using the hotel infrastructure," said Konstantin Zankov of the Institute for Analysis and Assessment in Tourism.

However, compensation for high energy prices should remain, the Institute noted. It is energy that turns out to be one of the biggest costs for hoteliers, even if they use solid fuel. The example comes from Smolyan:

"The bill is almost double, even though I've switched to energy-saving stuff. I've changed the bulbs on the whole complex, the hot water is from solar panels, but still the cost is high. On one hand, there aren’t many tourists, we are currently working thanks to the companies that are currently building a water cycle and shops in Smolyan," explained Ivan Makreolov, hotelier.

Some hotels in the area have already closed their restaurants as they cannot maintain prices adequate to demand. In Bansko, however, the restaurants are open, but similar to hotel accommodations, prices have jumped by about 20%:

"Our rough calculations show there is 20% increase in products prices and they will increase more and more. Now, it depends what's going to be included, how tiered it's going to be, whether drinks will be included. Prices of drinks have also gone up, i.e. it is becoming very luxurious to go to a restaurant or use all the other services that the industry offers People should be aware that we cannot operate at low prices because simply the service and the product that we offer cannot cover the costs by itself", Julia Popova, manager of a tavern and guest house in Bansko says.

Even if the short-term anti-crisis measures help somewhat, it will not provide a solution to the general problem - how to get a better tourist product at affordable prices:

BNT: In your opinion, which is more sensible - to invest in a strategy for the long-term development of the sector or in measures?

Konstantin Zankov, Institute for Analysis and Assessment in Tourism: To invest in proper marketing, that is to have a strategy that really works. Based on the focus markets that are currently looking for our product, not the ones that might be looking for it someday. Adequate marketing campaigns and depending on measures for specific locations. What the state needs to focus on is digitalisation of business.