400 Vacationers Still Stranded at Bulgaria's Coastal Airport

Business » TOURISM | September 12, 2011, Monday // 08:59
Some 400 Vacationers Remain Stranded at Bulgaria's Coastal Airport: 400 Vacationers Still Stranded at Bulgaria's Coastal Airport Bulgaria Air cancelled 4 flights booked by Alma Tour for Russia and Finland, due to what it claims is a EUR 3.5 M debt on the part of the tour operator, leaving 1 000 tourists stranded on the Black Sea coast. Photo by bTV

The issue with the Russian tourists who spent three days at the airport of the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas has not been fully resolved.

According to the largest private TV channel bTV about 400 tourists, including 170 from Finland still could not board a flight home as of late Sunday evening.

The Bulgarian national career Bulgaria Air announced mid-day Sunday that it is resuming flights to Russia and the Baltic Republics for tourists of Alma Tour Fly despite the ongoing dispute with the tour operator Alma Tour.

In order to rescue the otherwise very strong tourist season, hotel owners in Bulgaria's largest summer resort Sunny Beach decided to accommodate, free of charge, the tourists stranded in Burgas.

Expert data shows that in summer 2011, Russian reservations at Sunny Beach were 10% higher, compared to last year – 80% of Russian visitors come to Bulgaria on vacation with 75% of them in the summer; 90% travel by air and every other Russian tourists stays in 4 or 5-star hotels.

Bulgaria Air, Bulgaria's national airline carrier and heir to Balkan Airlines, cancelled Friday and Saturday 4 flights to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Helsinki that were booked by Alma Tour, who according to the airline owe them some EUR 3.5 M.

Russian Federal Tourism Agency vice-chair Grigoriy Sarishvili, has arrived in Bulgaria to help with the situation. He has stated that Russian authorities have the information that some 1 000 tourists have been affected by the scandal.

In addition to the 650 stranded at Burgas Airport, there were 350 more at Varna Airport on the northern Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov ordered the government plane to be flown to Burgas to aid in the transportation of the neediest, such as children, pregnant women and people who might be ill. The craft with a capacity of 90 transported about 200 tourists Saturday.

Bulgarian Minister of Transport Ivailo Moskovski and vice-minister in charge of tourism Ivo Marinov, have been sent to Burgas Airport on the Bulgarian Black Sea to help broker a deal.

Meanwhile, The Sofia City Prosecution started an investigation whether the events were caused by Alma Tour employees, following an order by Bulgarian Chief Prosecutor, Boris Velchev, and consultations with PM Boyko Borisov.

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Tags: Bulgaria Air, Balkan Airlines, Boyko Borisov, Ivo Marinov, Ivailo Moskovski, Russia, Russian, Finland, Helsinki, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Scandinavian, tourists, stranded, license, Boris Velchev, investigation, Alma Tour

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