Comment by Emilia Milcheva:
We are not far from the time when tourists on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast will look at the sea through a hole in the concrete, and some concessionaire will hold the rights to the view for the next 35 years. It sounds absurd. But if the start of summer 2026 is any guide, then there may be no one to look through this hole.
"The resorts are ready, but there are no tourists"
On the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, hotels continue to be built faster than they can attract people who want to vacation in them. In mid-June, Tourism Minister Ilin Dimitrov announced on BNT that “the resorts are ready for tourists, but there are no tourists”. According to Eurostat data, Bulgaria ranks last in the European Union (EU) in terms of tourist growth in the period January-April 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. On average, an increase of 4.5% was recorded for the EU, but a decrease of 4 percent was registered for Bulgaria.
Part of the explanation is also purely logistical. This summer, the Bulgarian Black Sea coast is losing nearly 120,000 German tourists due to a dispute between two airlines. The result is that organized charters from Germany will not take place, and the industry expects a drop of between 25 and 30% in German tourists compared to last year. But the outflow from the German market, one of the most important for Bulgarian tourism, is not from yesterday and can hardly explain the problems of the Black Sea coast by itself.
However, the big problem is not in one bad summer. There is a place for every taste and budget on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast - from cheap accommodation to luxury complexes. But hoteliers continue to live from season to season and on the hope that two strong summer months will fix everything. After decades of a construction boom by the sea, the question is not how many beds there are, but why they are difficult to fill.
Why exactly here
The problem is not only in the inflated prices and their discrepancy with the quality of services, nor in the concreted unique places. The bigger problem is that Bulgaria continues to offer the sea, but it is difficult to convince people why one should choose its Black Sea coast.
And in the region, the competition does not just sell beaches. Besides history, of course, Greece sells a way of life - local cuisine, culture, emotion, contact with the place. Turkey sells the feeling that the guest is king. Croatia has turned its Adriatic coast into a brand with its islands, yacht tourism, centuries-old cities ruled by the Venetians. Albania, on the other hand, sells itself as a discovery - a place that has not yet been taken over by mass tourism.
What story does a tourist take with him from the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, which he can later tell his family and friends? A cheap vacation is not a competitive advantage, since even more expensive destinations are full. Tourists do not just buy a package. They buy an experience, a memory to take with them.
Redevelopment killed uniqueness
Meanwhile, the Black Sea coast itself has lost what distinguished it. Redevelopment not only disfigures, but also produces sameness, and this means suicide for the tourism business. When every vacant space becomes a hotel, apartment complex or another attraction, the destination begins to resemble all the others. In addition to changing the natural landscape, the construction is indiscriminate, as protected areas, dunes and ravines are built up, and then nature takes revenge with floods, landslides and erosion.
Illegally built buildings along the Black Sea coast are multiplying. They are legalized (the “Dune” hotel), enter into legal proceedings (the “retaining” wall of Aleppo) or simply remain in place (the “Negresco” hotel in Elenite) until the scandal is forgotten. But added to the concrete is the lack of a concept of exactly what a resort should look like. That is why we are witnessing urbanization without urban planning and construction without an architectural vision. Each new building is designed for itself - without connection to the neighboring one, without regard to the environment and without the slightest idea of what the place should look like in ten or twenty years.
Hotels, apartment complexes, restaurants and retail spaces appear next to each other only thanks to the elemental power of money. And the coast gradually lost its sense of place, as investors figured out how to build, and local and central authorities viewed the sea as a terrain to be developed, not as a national resource. And with such a loss, of course, comes a loss of tourists.
Whatever the brand
But what kind of brand can the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast actually have? This is the question that no one has yet given a convincing answer to. On a little more than 300 kilometers of coastline, all possible tourist models are gathered - from noisy parties and cheap alcohol in Sunny Beach to family vacations in Albena, from campers and surfers near Shabla to lovers of luxury complexes and closed holiday villages.
Greece has dozens of different tourist products, but behind them lies a common image of the country. The Bulgarian Black Sea Coast offers everything for everyone, but there is no recognizable face. For over a decade, tourism strategies have been written, brands, advertising concepts and slogans have been developed. Studies of tourists and tour operators have been conducted, concepts for positioning the country and the Black Sea Coast have been created. The problem is that while identity strategies are being written, the exact opposite often happens on the ground - identity is being destroyed. It is being flooded by predatory development.
And so we slowly approach the hole in the concrete.