1 Tourism Management and Planning in Bulgaria ... - SSRN papers

1 downloads 0 Views 738KB Size Report
Introduction. With a size of 111 000 sq. km and a population of 7.5 mln inhabitants, Bulgaria is a medium sized European country. Located on the Balkan ...
Tourism Management and Planning in Bulgaria Stanislav Ivanov and Miroslava Dimitrova Stanislav Ivanov, Ph. D.: International University College, Bulgaria, email: [email protected] Miroslava Dimitrova, Ph. D.: International University College, Bulgaria, email: [email protected] 1. Introduction With a size of 111 000 sq. km and a population of 7.5 mln inhabitants, Bulgaria is a medium sized European country. Located on the Balkan peninsular it borders Romania to the North, Serbia and Macedonia to the West, Greece and Turkey to the South and the Black sea to the East. Tourism is a major industry in Bulgaria. In 2008 the country had 3217 accommodation establishments serving 4.391 mln guests who spent 320 mln euros for 15.372 mln overnights (NSI, 2010). The balance of payments contribution of inbound tourism in 2008 was 2 873.8 mln euros, offsetting the negative trade balance. In total the hotels and restaurants sector employed 128 000 people and formed 500 mln euros of gross value added (2,8% of total GVA in Bulgaria for the same year). It also contributed to 0,436% of the economic growth in 2005 (Ivanov and Webster, 2010). Current chapter focuses on the evolution of tourism development in Bulgaria and the national, regional and local institutions responsible for its development. Although tourism plays an important role for the economic development of the country, the public authority that is responsible for its management has never been granted a high rank within the state administration. On national level tourism has been managed by a committee, association, state agency that changed its legal status and subordination manifold but never by a ministry of tourism. In 2009 the existing State Agency for Tourism was closed and transformed into a directorate within the mega Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism (MEET). 2. Evolution of tourism in Bulgaria Tourism development in Bulgaria dates back to the pre-World War II period but gained momentum after the war. Within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (that existed during the period 1949-1991) which was the equivalent of the European Economic Community for the communist countries, Bulgaria was specialising in tourism. The regime relied on tourism as one of the sources of foreign exchange. In this regard during the 1950s and 1960s large sea-

1 Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1599611

side mass tourism resorts were constructed – “Druzhba” (renamed later to “St. Constantine and Helena”), “Chaika” (renamed to “Sunny Day”), “Golden Sands” and “Albena” on the North Black Sea coast, and “Sunny Beach” on the South coast. The mountain resorts of “Pamporovo” (in the Rhodopes) and “Borovets” (in Rila) were the flagships of winter skiing. The predominant market segments were the Soviet Union and the countries from the Eastern bloc. This determined the high number of tourists coming from Eastern European countries. After 1989 tourism sector in Bulgaria experienced profound changes in both the structure of tourism supply and demand. The early 1990s witnessed the start of the transition from centrally planned to market economy. The chaos and uncertainty during the period resulted in a significant drop in the number of tourist arrivals – the number of international leisure tourists decreased from 2.497 mln in 1985 to 2.161 mln in 1990 and 1.974 mln in 1998 (NSI, 2001). On the positive side, private investments entered the tourism industry and many new small hotels, restaurants, tour operators were established. The second half of the 1990s was characterised by privatisation of government owned tourist companies (including the national carrier at that time “Balkan”) and foreign investments in the sector, followed by massive domestic investments during the first years of 21st century. As a result, currently more than 99% of the industry is run by private companies. Of course, the development was not without its problems. Overconstruction in the seaside and ski resorts is an often phenomenon, accompanied with limited or missing infrastructure. In 2009, Bulgaria boasts 3533 accommodation establishments (hotels, motels, resorts, chalets) with total 287423 beds (NSI, 2010) – an increase with 9,82% of the number of establishments and with 3,92% of the number of beds compared to 2008. The current economic crisis led to the delay of many construction projects in the area and the future prospects for the bed capacity growth are not high. However, it must be pointed out that the number of beds in Bulgaria might be underestimated due to the high level of non-observed economic activities in tourism in Bulgaria (Ivanov, 2005). The bed capacity is concentrated predominantly on the Black sea coast and the capital city Sofia - in 2009, the 3 administrative districts on the Black sea coast (Bourgas, Varna and Dobrich) and Sofia had 70,14% of the total bed numbers in accommodation establishments. The category structure of the accommodations is nearly equally distributed among 1-2 stars, 3 stars and 4-5 stars. In 2009, there were 2445 establishments with 93686 beds categorised as 1-2 stars (or 32,6% of the total number of beds), 810 3-star establishments with 94998 beds (33,05%), 234 4-star with 80545 beds (28,02%) and 44 5-star hotels with 18194 beds (6,33%) (NSI, 2010).

2 Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1599611

Transportation is still an issue in the development of the destination. Only 3 airports serve regular international flights (Sofia, Bourgas and Varna), while Plovdiv receives only charter flights. The highway ring of the country is still under construction for the last 30 years which hinders the automobile transport. In 2008 Bulgaria welcomed 8.539 mln visitors, 4.766 mln of which (55,85%) came for holiday and recreation, 2.753 mln (32,26%) were transit travellers, while the rest one million (11,89%) came on business reasons, visiting friends and relatives or other purposes (see Appendix 1). Most of the leisure tourists came from the EU countries which had a 79,17% share. It is not surprising that the major tourist generating markets for leisure tourists were the neighbouring Romania (933 000 leisure tourists or 19,60%) and Greece (762 000 leisure tourists or nearly 16%). Germany contributed to 11% of leisure tourist arrivals (523 000), the UK generated 329 000 (6,90%), while the CEE countries (Poland, Czech republic, Slovakia and Hungary) – 450 000 (9,44%). Tourists come to Bulgaria predominantly for vacation. The main products that currently attract tourists are: sea/sun/sand – in Sunny beach, Nessebar, Obzor, Sozopol to the South and Golden Sands, Albena, St. Constantine and Helena resort, Riviera, Kavarna, Balchik to the North Black sea coast. winter ski – in Pamporovo, Chepelare, Bansko, Razlog, Dobrinishte, Borovets. eco/rural – in the mountain areas like Rhodopes, Pirin, Rila, Stara planina. cultural – in the capital Sofia, the large cities like Varna, Bourgas, Plovdiv, Rousse, but also historical places like Veliko Tarnovo, Pliska, Preslav, Vidin, Koprivshtitsa, Karlovo, Kalofer, Panagyurishte, Batak etc. gambling – in Sofia and the seaside and mountain resorts (see Ivanova and Atanasova, 2009). balneology, spa and wellness – Kyustendil, Hissarya, Banya, Narechen, Mihalkovo, Velingrad, Varshets, etc (Yordanov, 2007). MICE tourism – Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna (Dimitrova and Hristova, 2004) cruise – Varna and Nessebar are popular ports of visit. Other types of tourism of tourism that are now developing and could be expanded include wine tourism (Rogashka and Ivanova, 2009), golf tourism (Nikolova and Stoyanova, 2009), communist heritage tourism (Ivanov, 2009). The increasing demand for special interest tourism in the world (see Table 1) is an opportunity that the country should embrace.

3

Table 1. SWOT analysis Strengths  Rich and diverse natural and cultural heritage  Nine entries in the UNESCO World Heritage List  Relatively high quality of the tourist superstructure  Price competitiveness of the destination  Political stability  EU membership  Geographical proximity to traditional tourist generating countries

Opportunities  Availability of EU funds for tourism and infrastructural development  Increasing demand for special interest tourism in main tourist generating countries  International hotel chains entry to the destination  Cross-border collaboration between Bulgaria, Greece and Romania in field of tourism  EU entry of West Balkans countries  Increased social status and quality of tourism education in Bulgaria  Increasing welfare of CEE countries

Weaknesses  Poor infrastructure  Concentration of tourism supply and demand on the Black coast, few ski resorts and the capital Sofia  Regular international flights to only 3 airports  Overconstruction in resorts  Unfinished highways  Deluted destination image  Outdated tourism legislation  Poor destination management on national and regional level  Lack of regional planning  Lack of financial incentives for tourism  Dependence on foreign mass tour operators  Lack of social tourism Threats  Global economic crisis  Competition from other Balkan and Mediterranean countries  Strict Shengen visa restrictions for some generating markets – Macedonia, Serbia, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus  Negative natural growth of population in Bulgaria  Political instability of the Balkan peninsula

The institutions responsible for the management of tourism on national level have also evolved through time (see Table 2). During the communist regime (1944-1989) all tourist companies where state owned which predetermined the total governmental control over the industry. Tourism was managed by a committee that changed its name and subordination many times (Tonchev et al., 2007: 309-311). In 2002 the committee was transformed into an agency which was subsequently closed in 2009. Despite tourism‟s economic significance the tourism administration authority has never been granted the status of a ministry.

4

Table 2. Evolution of Tourism Management Institutions in Bulgaria (1948-2009) Year 1948 1963

1966 1969 1971 1973 1977

1980 1983 1990 1997 1998

1999 2002 2004 2005

2005

Institution “Balkantourist” (soc) that manages the tourist enterprises in the country. It is part of the Ministry of rail, road and water transport. Central tourism administration (gb) is established subordinate to the Council of Ministers. “Balkantourist” (soc) is divided into: “Balkantourist” (soc) for incoming tourism, “Tourist” (soc) for managing hotels and restaurant and “Rodinatourist” (soc) for domestic and outbound tourism Central tourism administration (gb) is transformed into Tourism Committee (gb). Incoming tour operator “Balkanholidays” (soc) is established in the UK. “Rodinatourist” (soc) is merged with “Balkantourist” (soc) “Tourist” (soc) is merged with “Balkantourist” (soc) Tourism Committee (gb) is transformed into Committee for leisure and tourism (gb). The tourist superstructure is managed on a geographic principle by regional “Leisure and tourism” state-owned companies. Tourism Committee (gb) is transformed into State Tourism Committee (gb). The tourist superstructure is managed by regional “Balkantourist” state-owned companies. The first Bulgarian hotel chain is founded “Interhotels-Balkantourist” (soc). Worker‟s leisure and tourism association (qngo) is established in addition to the Tourism Committee (gb). Its aim is to support the cooperation among tourism associations and companies in the country and the development of leisure activities. The Tourism Committee (gb) and the Worker‟s leisure and tourism association (qngo) are closed and a new government body is established – Bulgarian Tourism and Leisure Association (gb). Bulgarian Tourism and Leisure Association (gb) is closed and Tourism Committee (gb) subordinate to the Council of Ministers re-established. “Interhotels-Balkantourist” (soc) ceases to exist. The Tourism Committee (gb) is closed and its functions overtaken by the Ministry of Trade and Tourism A National Tourism Council (pp) is established as a consultative body to the Minister of Trade and Tourism. It unites representatives from the associations of tourist companies (hotels, restaurants, airlines, tour operator and travel agents) and the local and regional tourist organisations The Ministry of Trade and Tourism is merged with the Ministry of Industry to form the Ministry of Economy. An Executive Agency for National Tourism Advertising and Information (gb) is established subordinate to the Minister of Economy. The Executive Agency for National Tourism Advertising and Information (gb) is transformed into Agency for Tourism (gb) subordinate to the Minister of Economy. Tourism is transferred from the Ministry of Economy to the Ministry of Culture to form the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Tourism is managed by Agency for Tourism (gb) subordinate to the Minister of Culture and Tourism and a department “National tourism policy” within the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Energy and Energy Resources merge to form the Ministry of Economy and Energy. The latter is responsible for the management of tourism as well. The Agency for Tourism and the department “National tourism policy” in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism are merged to form the State Agency for Tourism (gb). 5

2009

Ministry of Economy and Energy is transformed into Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism. Bulgarian State Agency for Tourism is closed and its functions are overtaken by the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism Abbriviations: gb – Government body; qngo – Quasi-nongovernmental organisation; soc – State-owned company; pp – Organisation uniting public authorities and associations of private companies 3. Planning and organisation of the tourism sector in Bulgaria 3.1. The present situation The newly elected Bulgarian government introduced number of changes affecting tourism planning and management. State Agency for Tourism which was in charge of tourism sector was closed and its authorities have been transferred to the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism (MEET). The transition was legitimated by amendment in Tourism Law voted in October 2009. There are three departments in MEET which are involved in tourism management and planning: 1) Department of policy in tourism; 2) Department of registration and categorization; 3) Department of marketing, promotion and advertising. The personnel in these three departments consist of 56 experts and technical assistants. There are three levels of administrative authority involved in tourism planning and management. At national level tourism in Bulgaria is governed by the Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism. The regional governors implement the state policy on regional level, while the municipal councils and mayors of municipalities are bodies of local administration. The international level of tourism management relates to the membership of Bulgaria in different international organizations involved in tourism, such as World Tourism Organization (WTO), United Federation of Travel Agents‟ Association (UFTAA), International Air Transport Association (IATA), etc. Other organizations that take part in tourism management and planning are National Tourism Council, local, regional, national, professional and product associations which act as consultative institutions. The relationship between tourism authorities and organizations is complicated and interrelated (see Figure 1). Tourist companies, municipalities and local organisations constitute the lowest level of subordination and are subjected to rules and regulations issued by the national and regional authorities, but in the same time they participate in relevant tourism organizations and are represented in National Tourism Council, thus taking active role in tourism planning and management.

6

Figure 1. Relationships, structure and levels of subordination between national, regional and local tourism organisations in Bulgaria (as of April 2010)

The Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism is involved in National strategy of sustainable tourism development (NSSTD), which presents a concept for economically efficient tourism development with an emphasis on protection of natural and man-made resources. It is based on the renewed Sustainable tourism development strategy adopted by EU and the Lisbon agenda, which recognises tourism as an important factor for life quality improvement. The Strategy aims at (http://www.tourism.government.bg/files/programs/): - increasing the competitiveness of tourism sector in Bulgaria; - positioning Bulgaria as a world recognisable destination brand; - enhancement of tourism attractions and related infrastructure; - introducing international standards and best practices and innovations in tourism sector, concerning products, technologies and human resources; - preservation, reconstruction and improvement of tourism resources. NSSTD targets at achieving certain economic results, such as tripling the gross income from tourism activities, doubling the average income per visitor, increase the share of additional versus main tourist services with 15% etc. The main objectives and tasks before tourism planning and management in Bulgaria according to NSSTD are as follows: - diversification of national tourism product, increase of tourism services‟ quality, protection of customer rights and security. The priority is given to eco and rural tourism as key sectors in sustainable tourism development;

7

- efficient marketing and promotion of Bulgaria as a tourist destination; - division of Bulgarian territory into tourist regions (destinations); - creation of modern integrated system of management of tourist activities, modernisation of tourism administration, development of partnership between public and private entities; - introduction of modern environmental standards and practices such as energy efficient technologies, production of energy from natural and self-restored sources etc; The implementation of the above stated objectives is financed by the State budget, municipalities budget, EU programs and funds, enterprises and companies involved in tourism business, independent tourist associations etc. As mentioned above, Bulgarian tourism policy relies on number of European programs and projects for technical support and financing as: - PHARE (projects mainly in infrastructural amelioration which aim at increase the accessibility to tourism attractions); - SAPARD (projects in rural tourism sectors); - ISPA (projects concerning ecology and transportation issue) - Operational programme ―Regional development‖ by European Union (Table 3 presents the current projects Bulgaria is involved in) Table 3. Projects in tourism sector conducted by Bulgarian government as per EU Operational programme “Regional development” Name of the project Value End date (euro) Marketing research and appraisal of national marketing 2 157 680 Dec. 2010 efficiency BG161PO001/3.3-01/2008/001-1 Advertising campaign of Bulgarian tourism product on 3 980 400 Dec. 2010 German, Britain and Russian markets BG161PO001/3.301/2008/001-2 Communication campaign for promotion of domestic tourism 2 716 300 Dec. 2010 BG161PO001/3.3-01/2008/001-3 Design and distribution of advertising materials for promotion 3 948 790 Dec. 2010 of Bulgaria as tourist destination BG161PO001/3.3-01/2008/001- 4 Multimedia catalogue of tourist attractions and e-marketing of 3 205 720 Dec. 2010 destination “Bulgaria” BG161PO001/3.3-01/2008/001- 5 All year long advertising campaign of Bulgaria on leading 3 758 740 Dec. 2010 European television channels BG161PO001/3.3-01/2008/001- 6 Establishment of network of tourist information centres 318 250 Dec. 2011 BG161PO001/3.3-01/2008/001- 7

8

Elaboration of branding strategy of “Bulgaria” and implementation of integrated brand management BG161PO001/3.3-01/2008/001- 8 Quality and sustainable development incentives for tourist enterprises BG161PO001/3.3-01/2008/001- 9 Source: Bulgarian State Agency http://www.tourism.government.bg/files/programs

for

1 411 450

Dec. 2011

227 014

Dec. 2011

Tourism

(in

closure)

3.2. National tourism planning and organization in Bulgaria The main body of tourism planning and management in Bulgaria is the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism. According to Tourism Law the Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism implements the state policy in tourism by (§5 of Tourism Law): - working out a strategy and short-term programmes for tourism development; - categorising the tourist sites upon proposal of the Central Expert Commission for licensing and categorization in the cases stipulated by the law; - organising and coordinating the management and control of the quality in tourism; - organising the creation and maintenance of a national tourist register; - organising and controlling the implementation of a national advertising in the sphere of tourism and assisting the tourist associations in promoting the tourist product on the international and domestic market; - managing the National Tourism Council and approving the annual programme for national advertising adopted by it; - creating, maintaining and renovating the unified system of tourist information; - assisting the creation and maintenance of the infrastructure and informational and reservation systems related to tourism; - assisting the attraction of foreign investments and the implementation of projects for development of tourism on national, regional and local level; - implementing international cooperation and representing the country before the international organisations in the sphere of tourism; The work of MEET is assisted by the National Tourism Council (NTC), which is a public consultative and coordination body. The NTC is formed by representatives of government, tourist associations, air, land and water carriers‟ associations, associations of the consumers and National Associations of the Municipalities in Republic of Bulgaria. Some of the main activities of NTC includes proposal of annual programme for spending the resources of the state financial support of tourism development; elaboration of programme of national advertisement and promotion of Bulgarian tourism; discussion of concepts and programmes for development of 9

tourism sector; comments on draft legislative acts and proposal for their amendment; discussing the preparation for the tourist seasons and the results from them etc. One of the major objectives of tourism management on national level is the promotion of Bulgaria as a tourist destination, predominantly on travel fairs (Ivanov and Webster, 2008). For this purpose, Bulgarian government allots 3,4 mln levs (1,73 mln euro) for promotion of tourism. During year 2010 Bulgaria is represented in 35 international tourist fairs and trade shows, which is 7 fairs less than the previous year. Various organisations and associations are involved in tourism planning and development on national level. Tourist associations are non-profit organisation and according to Tourism Law (§. 11) they could be divided into territorial and professional criteria. Tourism associations represent and defend the interests of their members before the respective bodies of the central and local administration; participate in the elaboration of strategies and programmes for tourism development on national, regional and local scale and assist their implementation; assist the advertising of the tourist product; assist the creation and functioning of tourist information centres or bureaux; participate in the categorisation of the tourist sites; participate in the licensing of persons for carrying out tourist activities; assist the improvement of the professional qualification of the personnel engaged in tourism; participate in the control over the observing of the normative acts in the sphere of tourism and observe the adherence to professional ethics. Table 4 lists the major tourist associations which act on national level. Table 4. Major national professional and product tourist associations in Bulgaria Name

Year of Members establis hment Bulgarian Association of 1992 - tour operators (TOs); Tourist Agencies BATA - travel agencies (TAs); - others (associated members) Bulgarian association of 1996 TOs and TAs tour operators and travel agencies ABTTA Bulgarian tourist chamber 1990 - national, regional and BTC local brand organisations and councils; - hotels; - restaurants; - TOs and TAs

Main objectives - to represent and protect the interest of travel agencies and tour operators - involved mainly in solving problems in airline ticketing - to unite, assist, encourage and protect the interests of its members - to assist both the national and regional development and coordination of the hotel and restaurant business as well as other commercial activities, connected with the industry; - to stimulate the professional education and qualification;

10

Bulgarian Restaurant BHRA

Hotel and 1993 Association

Bulgarian association for 1998 alternative tourism BAAT

Bulgarian Union of not Balneology and Spa avail. Tourism BUBST Bulgarian Association of 1995 rural and eco tourism BARET

Association of Bulgarian 2002 Guides ABG National Hotel 2003 Management Club NHMC Bulgarian Convention and 2004 Visitors Bureau BCVB

- hotels; - restaurants; - others (associated members) - national and regional tourist councils; - natural parks; - TOs; - hotels, guesthouses; - individuals - hotels; - TOs and TAs; - others - regional and local councils; - natural parks; - nongovernmental organization; - different tourism businesses - travel guides - owners and general managers of hotels and restaurants - hotels; - convention and congress centres

- to provide its members with updated information on the current conditions and perspectives of the tourist industry. - to sustain the development of hotel and restaurant business as well as to support private enterprise and the tourism sector in Bulgaria as a whole. - to encourage and support partnerships for the sustainable development of alternative forms of tourism at a regional and local level in order to preserve natural, cultural and historical heritage - to promote balneology and Spa tourism in Bulgaria - to develop rural and eco tourism - to uphold the preservation of Bulgarian cultural and historical heritage - to promote natural protection and ecology education - to protect the interests of the tour guides in Bulgaria - to protect the interest and professional development of its members - to promote Bulgaria as congress destination - to assist foreign companies and international organizations to hold conferences, meetings and congress related events in Bulgaria

3.3. Regional tourism planning and organization in Bulgaria Tourist legislation in Bulgaria determines a very limited role to the regional governors in field of tourism administration and planning. According to Tourism Law (§5), the regional governor implements the state policy in tourism on the territory of the region by working out strategies and programmes for tourism development and coordinating their implementation. In May 2008 the former tourist governmental body – The Tourism State Agency proposed the division of Bulgarian territory into eight main tourist regions (destinations) which are shown in Figure 2.

11

Figure 2. Tourist regions (destinations) in Bulgaria 1. Danube region 2. Ancient Bulgarian capitals region 3. Balkan ridge region 4. Black sea coast region 5. Sofia region 6. Tracia region 7. Rila-Pirin region 8. Rhodopes region The division is related to the implementation of National Strategy of Sustainable Tourism Development. The objective of division is to present different tourist regions as recognisable, attractive and unique destination and to form a destination regional brand. The principles observed in the divisions are the formation of a common tourist product which is related to the specific tourist resources. Thus for example Ancient Bulgarian capitals region specializes in cultural and historical tourism, Black sea coast region – in sea, sand, sun tourism etc. The division is an important part of the implementation of regional tourism planning and management. Unfortunately it is still a draft and is an object of critics and controversy. Other divisions of tourist regions in Bulgaria are also available in the literature (e.g. in Rakadzhiyska et al., 2005: 93-104). This could explain the scarcity of actively working regional tourism organizations, their lack of coordination and partnership for creation and promotion of regional tourism product. On the territory of Bulgaria there are only few active regional association which combine the efforts of some municipalities and local hotel and restaurant associations to attract visitors: Regional tourist association ―Rhodopes‖ (http://www.rodopi-bg.com), Regional Association Stara Planina (RASP) (http://www.staraplanina.org). The latter was founded in 1996 as a part of a Swiss regional development project. Several regional associations of municipalities exist, but they are not dedicated only to tourism but deal with other sectors of the economy as well. 3.4. Local tourism planning and organization in Bulgaria According to Tourism Law (§ 10) bodies of local independent government and administration are the Municipal council and the mayors. The municipal councils adopt programme for development of tourism on the territory of the respective municipality and the mayor of the municipality establishes a Tourism Advisory Council for issues of tourism and a 12

municipal expert commission for categorisation of the tourist sites and effectuates the categorisation; creates and maintains a register of the sites on the territory of the municipality; assists the advertising of the tourist product of the municipality; organizes the information services for tourists, including through creation of tourists information centres; assists the maintenance and the preservation of the natural and cultural-historic sites on the territory of the municipality; assists the state bodies in implementing the policy in tourism and exercises the control over the quality of the tourist product on the territory of the municipality. There are number of tourism associations and organisations with main objective to attract visitors and thus could be classified as local tourism planning and management bodies. Such organizations are for example the Varna Chamber of Tourism (http://www.vct-bg.org/). Its members are various tourist companies (TOs, TAs, hotels, carriers, restaurants, amusement parks and attractions) who combine their efforts on promoting Varna as an attractive tourist destination.

Another

example

could

be

given

with

Plovdiv

Tourism

Council

(http://www.tourismplovdiv.org/). There are over 40 tourist councils in Bulgaria which promote tourism on local level. Unfortunately most of them are relatively poor developed, do not maintain any web-based information and have quite scarce marketing and promotion activities. There are also local tourist and professional organization such as Sofia Visitors Bureau which aims at promoting Sofia as an attractive destination for congress and convention tourism. Many local formations between different professionals exists, such as Dobich hotel and restaurant association which is a member of BHRA and is involved in developing fair practices and partnership between its members on the territory of Dobrich. As mentioned above one of the current projects of MEET, which is financed by the Operational Programme of Regional Development of the European Union is the establishment of reliable and functioning network of tourist informational centres (TICs). At the moment there are 81 TICs in Bulgaria which are situated in major cities, resorts and rural tourist villages. Unfortunately these centres do not fulfil their primary objectives to attract tourists and provide tourism related information. 4. Key issues and trends At this point tourism sector in Bulgaria is in a transitional phase, coming from one structure of management to another. Yet many changes and transformation are expected to be effectuated. On one hand, “tourism management” was promoted from state agency to ministry rank, but on the other hand its implementation in such a „megastructure‟ as MEET which 13

combines three very different spheres of competencies could be very problematic and could lead to lack of focus and loss of responsibilities and authorities. Though tourism sector in Bulgaria is almost 100% private, the State actively participate in its regulation by categorisation of tourism enterprises, financing of different projects, protection of tourists consumers‟ rights, preservation of tourist resources etc. In order to improve the regulation in the sector a new Tourism Law should be forged in order to replace the old, repeatedly amended and revised one. The new Law should provide terms for the categorisation of tourism businesses in order to increase the quality of services. Different tourist object as “congress centres”, “amusement parks”, “attractions”, etc. should be included in the Law to regulate their activities. There are many pending and relatively urgent issues concerning tourism development that government should consider: -

finalisation and implementation of regional tourist division of the country;

-

improvement of the tourism related statistics.

At the moment the registration and categorisation is made by two different bodies (Expert commission of categorisation appointed by the National Tourist Council and Municipal council – for lower ranked establishments) which hampers the maintenance of combined and reliable data base. With the entry of Bulgaria in European Union in 2007 and the facilitation of tourist flows between different European countries, the maintenance of updated visitors statistics (country of origin, purpose of visit etc) became more and more challenging. In the country no actual statistic is gathered for the specialised forms of tourism which are loudly declared as priority tourism sectors such as conference, spa, golf, rural, eco tourism etc. The lack of reliable data impedes the researches in these fields thus hindering their further development. -

alleviation of visas issuing procedures and taxes.

This is especially urgent for such important Bulgarian markets as Russian where the encumbrance of the visa formalities decreases the competitiveness of Bulgarian tourist products; -

establishment of functioning network of destination marketing organization (on

national, regional and local level) which could promote effectively Bulgaria as attractive tourist destinations (Ribov et al., 2005) -

assisting the domestic tourism demand by development of social tourism activities

such as organised and subsidised youth and children vacation camps, holidays for retired and destitute people etc; -

introduction of preferential taxation system for tourism sector.

At the moment the hotel services in Bulgaria have preferential VAT rate of 7% compared to the average 20% rate, but most tourist activities such as restaurant businesses, conference, spa 14

tourism, tour operators, are obliged to pay the full amount of VAT which decrease the competitiveness of their products on the international market; -

new model of coordination and relationship between state and professional

organizations should be established. The tourism association should be given more authority and opportunity to participate in different projects, categorization and registration activities, marketing and promotion of the country and its regions, implementation and control of the tourist policy. 5. Conclusion The Chapter presented a brief overview of the tourism sector in Republic of Bulgaria, the structure of its management, different aspects of national, regional and local policy in tourism as well as some of the most important government and non government organizations involved in tourism planning. Given the fact that Bulgarian tourism sector is in a transition period, some of the statements given above are provisional and could be subjected to further development. One possible change that might be expected is the place of the tourism administration authority within the structure of the government administration. Some voices from the industry have been expressed for the creation of a Ministry of Tourism, but they have not been heard yet. Furthermore, greater cooperation between the national, regional and local tourism organisation might be anticipated. The number of local tourism councils is growing and some of them look for greater partnership on regional level with tourism councils from neighbouring municipalities. Transborder cooperation with municipalities in Romania and Greece is also on the agenda, stimulated by the availability of EU funds. However, tourism industry should be better involved in the tourism planning. The plenty of tourism industry associations that now exist in Bulgaria should cooperate with each other rather than compete for the public attention. The establishment of a Destination Management Organisation for Bulgaria (Marinov, 2006: 167-178) as a publicprivate partnership (probably as a successor of the National Tourism Council) could be a good start in positive direction. References: Dimitrova, M., L. Hristova (2004) Unconventional tourism. Sofia: University of National and World Economy (in Bulgarian) Ivanov, S. (2005) Measurement of the Macroeconomic Impacts of Tourism. Unpublished Ph. D. Thesis, University of Economics – Varna (in Bulgarian). Available online at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1539443 15

Ivanov, S. (2009) Opportunities for developing communist heritage tourism in Bulgaria. Tourism 57(2), pp. 177-192. Available online at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1339564 Ivanov, S., C. Webster (2008) Marketing the Bulgarian Tourism Product—the Economic Geography of Long-term and Short-term Investments. Paper presented at GEOTOUR 2008 Conference, 26-28 June 2008, Krakow, Poland. Available online at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1331064 Ivanov, S., C. Webster (2010) Decomposition of economic growth in Bulgaria by industry. Journal of Economic Studies (forthcoming). Earlier version available online at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1298089 Ivanova, A., S. Atanasova (2009) Gambling tourism in Bulgaria. International Hospitality Student Journal, Vol. 2., no pages Marinov, S. (2006) Marketing management of the competitiveness of a tourist destination. Varna: Slavena National Statistics Institute (NSI) (2001) Tourism 2001. Sofia National Statistics Institute (NSI) (2009) Tourism 2008. Sofia National Statistics Institute (NSI) (2010) http://www.nsi.bg. The official website of the National Statistics Institute of Bulgaria Nikolova, M., T. Stoyanova (2009) Golf tourism. Yearbook of International University College, pp. 207-221 Rakadzhiiska, S., T. Dabeva, S. Marinov, S. Ivanov, T. Dyankov (2005) Marketing strategy for repositioning of destination Bulgaria. University of Economics – Varna, Bulgaria (in Bulgarian) Ribov M., Stankova M., Mileva M., Dimitrov P., Yaneva M., Komitski I., Stankova B., Trifonova J., Ganeva V., Todorova R., Emilova I., Martinova L., Hristova L., Velikova E., Dimitrova M., Grachka L., Starshov A. (2005). Competitiveness strategies in tourism. Sofia: University of National and World Economy (in Bulgarian) Rogashka, N., P. Ivanova (2009) Wine tourism. Yearbook of International University College, pp. 222-253 Tonchev, T., M. Bachvarov, S. Mileva, I. Nikolova (2007) Tourism fundamentals. Sofia: Tilia books (in Bulgarian) Yordanov, Y. (2007) Spa and wellness tourism. Market and technological aspects of its development in Bulgaria. Sofia: (in Bulgarian)

16

Appendix 1. Volume and structure of arrivals in Bulgaria by country of origin and purpose of visit in 2008 Country of origin

Total

Total EU Austria Belgium United Kingdom Germany Greece Denmark Spain Italy Cyprus Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Hungary Finland France Czech Rep. Sweden Other EU countries Other European countries Norway Macedonia Russian Fed. Serbia Turkey Ukraine Switzerland Оther countries Israel Canada USA Japan Rest of the world

8532972 5722712 157027 93269 370908 759660 881458 122364 40869 104931 24324 10757 165231 257713 11536 1769194 161621 20055 151237 77021 148417 167738 118913 108469

Purpose of visit 2008

Structure of Purpose of visit by Country of Origin 2008

Leisure VFR Business Others Transit Total 4765700 98478 418374 497276 2753144 100,00% 3773131 28718 272883 166096 1481884 67,07% 49599 2654 20451 6444 77879 1,84% 43418 722 6296 799 42034 1,09% 328696 3875 25572 5528 7237 4,35% 523580 6267 35982 14552 179279 8,90% 762222 2464 56899 21962 37911 10,33% 110140 412 3726 760 7326 1,43% 29614 1039 8414 821 981 0,48% 58341 1976 32498 8181 3935 1,23% 16726 665 3101 2740 1092 0,29% 9766 52 879 23 37 0,13% 63278 1109 8682 2748 89414 1,94% 136784 424 5794 13937 100774 3,02% 9141 170 1567 385 273 0,14% 933936 1425 12609 48746 772478 20,73% 118846 194 4383 9915 28283 1,89% 14591 48 1806 1435 2175 0,24% 56076 379 7298 12531 74953 1,77% 73556 262 2236 383 584 0,90% 102717 2511 14248 2520 26421 1,74% 137931 469 8578 8036 12724 1,97% 103560 975 3934 625 9819 1,39% 90613 626 7930 3025 6275 1,27%

Leisure 100,00% 79,17% 1,04% 0,91% 6,90% 10,99% 15,99% 2,31% 0,62% 1,22% 0,35% 0,20% 1,33% 2,87% 0,19% 19,60% 2,49% 0,31% 1,18% 1,54% 2,16% 2,89% 2,17% 1,90%

VFR Business 100,00% 100,00% 29,16% 65,22% 2,70% 4,89% 0,73% 1,50% 3,93% 6,11% 6,36% 8,60% 2,50% 13,60% 0,42% 0,89% 1,06% 2,01% 2,01% 7,77% 0,68% 0,74% 0,05% 0,21% 1,13% 2,08% 0,43% 1,38% 0,17% 0,37% 1,45% 3,01% 0,20% 1,05% 0,05% 0,43% 0,38% 1,74% 0,27% 0,53% 2,55% 3,41% 0,48% 2,05% 0,99% 0,94% 0,64% 1,90%

Structure of Country of Origin by Purpose of visit 2008

Others Transit Total 100,00% 100,00% 100,00% 33,40% 53,83% 100,00% 1,30% 2,83% 100,00% 0,16% 1,53% 100,00% 1,11% 0,26% 100,00% 2,93% 6,51% 100,00% 4,42% 1,38% 100,00% 0,15% 0,27% 100,00% 0,17% 0,04% 100,00% 1,65% 0,14% 100,00% 0,55% 0,04% 100,00% 0,00% 0,00% 100,00% 0,55% 3,25% 100,00% 2,80% 3,66% 100,00% 0,08% 0,01% 100,00% 9,80% 28,06% 100,00% 1,99% 1,03% 100,00% 0,29% 0,08% 100,00% 2,52% 2,72% 100,00% 0,08% 0,02% 100,00% 0,51% 0,96% 100,00% 1,62% 0,46% 100,00% 0,13% 0,36% 100,00% 0,61% 0,23% 100,00%

Leisure 55,85% 65,93% 31,59% 46,55% 88,62% 68,92% 86,47% 90,01% 72,46% 55,60% 68,76% 90,79% 38,30% 53,08% 79,24% 52,79% 73,53% 72,75% 37,08% 95,50% 69,21% 82,23% 87,09% 83,54%

VFR Business 1,15% 4,90% 0,50% 4,77% 1,69% 13,02% 0,77% 6,75% 1,04% 6,89% 0,82% 4,74% 0,28% 6,46% 0,34% 3,05% 2,54% 20,59% 1,88% 30,97% 2,73% 12,75% 0,48% 8,17% 0,67% 5,25% 0,16% 2,25% 1,47% 13,58% 0,08% 0,71% 0,12% 2,71% 0,24% 9,01% 0,25% 4,83% 0,34% 2,90% 1,69% 9,60% 0,28% 5,11% 0,82% 3,31% 0,58% 7,31%

Others 5,83% 2,90% 4,10% 0,86% 1,49% 1,92% 2,49% 0,62% 2,01% 7,80% 11,26% 0,21% 1,66% 5,41% 3,34% 2,76% 6,13% 7,16% 8,29% 0,50% 1,70% 4,79% 0,53% 2,79%

Transit 32,26% 25,89% 49,60% 45,07% 1,95% 23,60% 4,30% 5,99% 2,40% 3,75% 4,49% 0,34% 54,11% 39,10% 2,37% 43,66% 17,50% 10,85% 49,56% 0,76% 17,80% 7,59% 8,26% 5,79%

2315605

705987 59617

101971 268523

1179507

27,14%

14,81%

60,54%

24,37%

54,00%

42,84% 100,00%

30,49%

2,57%

4,40%

11,60%

50,94%

87362 323400 296918 311666 1116680 150818 28761 201435 105882 14228 71495 9830 293220

83685 308 104114 29282 242478 7117 155646 2272 29233 18233 69423 1846 21408 559 172040 4089 97050 411 11288 793 56470 2835 7232 50 114542 6054

1135 340 12007 71201 16984 24604 10643 20427 51639 110974 6822 40475 2741 502 17793 4465 6754 1187 960 456 7911 2671 2168 151 25727 58192

1894 106796 5735 122678 906601 32252 3551 3048 480 731 1608 229 88705

1,02% 3,79% 3,48% 3,65% 13,09% 1,77% 0,34% 2,36% 1,24% 0,17% 0,84% 0,12% 3,44%

1,76% 2,18% 5,09% 3,27% 0,61% 1,46% 0,45% 3,61% 2,04% 0,24% 1,18% 0,15% 2,40%

0,31% 29,73% 7,23% 2,31% 18,51% 1,87% 0,57% 4,15% 0,42% 0,81% 2,88% 0,05% 6,15%

0,27% 2,87% 4,06% 2,54% 12,34% 1,63% 0,66% 4,25% 1,61% 0,23% 1,89% 0,52% 6,15%

0,07% 14,32% 4,95% 4,11% 22,32% 8,14% 0,10% 0,90% 0,24% 0,09% 0,54% 0,03% 11,70%

0,07% 3,88% 0,21% 4,46% 32,93% 1,17% 0,13% 0,11% 0,02% 0,03% 0,06% 0,01% 3,22%

95,79% 32,19% 81,66% 49,94% 2,62% 46,03% 74,43% 85,41% 91,66% 79,34% 78,98% 73,57% 39,06%

0,35% 9,05% 2,40% 0,73% 1,63% 1,22% 1,94% 2,03% 0,39% 5,57% 3,97% 0,51% 2,06%

1,30% 3,71% 5,72% 3,41% 4,62% 4,52% 9,53% 8,83% 6,38% 6,75% 11,07% 22,05% 8,77%

0,39% 22,02% 8,29% 6,55% 9,94% 26,84% 1,75% 2,22% 1,12% 3,20% 3,74% 1,54% 19,85%

2,17% 33,02% 1,93% 39,36% 81,19% 21,38% 12,35% 1,51% 0,45% 5,14% 2,25% 2,33% 30,25%

100,00% 100,00% 100,00% 100,00% 100,00% 100,00% 100,00% 100,00% 100,00% 100,00% 100,00% 100,00% 100,00%

Source: National Statistics Institute (2009) and authors‟ calculations 17

Figure 1. Relationships, structure and levels of subordination between national, regional and local tourism organisations in Bulgaria (as of April 2010)

Administrative authorities

Regional level

Local level

Tourist businesses

European Union, international travel and tourism organisations

International level

National level

Consultative institutions

Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism

Regional governors

National Tourism Council

National professional and product tourism associations

Regional tourism associations

Tourist companies

Levels of destination management and planning

Local tourism councils Municipalities (municipal councils and mayors)

Tourism advisory councils

18