„It is not true that everyone who has reached the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast says that it is expensive. This is not so. On the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast there are all kinds of prices and we have been repeating this for the third or fourth month now. Just as there is a 10 euro tarator - in one place in a five-star hotel, in the most expensive restaurant in a resort town, in this restaurant there are no seats in the evening without a reservation, and in the most expensive hotel where the restaurant is located, in July and August you cannot find a room“.
This was commented on „This Sunday“ by Richard Alibegov, chairman of the Bulgarian Restaurant Association.
„This does not bother those customers who go to this place. Five meters to the left there is a tarator for 3.50, for 2.50, there is also one for 4 euros. For every taste. You can choose where to sit. This is the case in Italy, Greece, and Spain“, he pointed out.
“Out of 4,000 thousand establishments on the native Black Sea coast, there are 50-60 cash receipts on the Internet. There are sites made solely for this — how the euro has had a bad effect on Bulgaria. Here now we have opponents of the euro who are trying to suggest that this is because of the euro. Political battles are being fought on the terrain of Bulgarian tourism, when there is nothing to do with it“, commented Alibegov.
“Of course, it is a big problem. The main problem is that prices in Greece have also increased. But the rate in Bulgaria is very often almost twice as high. And especially for simple things — coffee, water“, pointed out Dimitar Popov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Association for Sustainable Tourism.
“I have been welcoming tourists and skiers to Bansko for many years - they have been coming for 15 years, staying in the same hotel every year, and this year they said: “Come on, that's enough, next year - Austria“. Because it's not just about the food, the lift pass, the restaurants on the slopes. It's cheaper in Italy. And in an Italian ski resort it's cheaper than eating in a restaurant in Bansko. There's also an increase in Greece. But there the increase is 10%. The Greek salad was 7-8 euros, now it's 10 euros. And then we won't go to a tavern every night. We will go to a tavern every other evening“, he commented.
„But here this jump in prices - not only at the sea, but also in Sofia, there is no way that it will not have an impact“, Popov believes.
"In Greece there are two things that you get, and our sea could have gotten them, but no longer gets them. This is predictability of the most important quality, i.e. a free parking space — where you park your car in front of the restaurant - the first thing. And the second thing — the beach. Wouldn't I want these 8 square meters in the hotel base? We don't have them. When we start measuring the free beach strip and parking spaces with Greece, then we will say let's look at the pubs and how much the tarator costs“, he pointed out.
According to Alibegov, the season is the same as last year, with a slight increase in places.