Interview with Ventsislav Tanchev, CEO of Suntours company, which represents German tour operator Alltours in Bulgaria

Q: What is the drop in preliminary bookings from Germany for Bulgaria? Can you make forecasts for the whole summer season on the basis of these figures?

A: German bookings for Bulgaria mark a fall of 20% on average year-upon-year. The drop ranges from 10% -15% to 25%-30% with the different tour operators. The fall in bookings at Alltours, whose representatives in Bulgaria we are, stands at 18% to this date. Bookings started at the levels from season 2008 when the tourist brochures for the Bulgarian market came out and the downward trend was gaining speed with each day. Things hit rock bottom in January and February, when traditionally sales are most robust. This forced us to launch talks with hoteliers to agree on new conditions and expand the incentives for early bookings. Thanks to these steps we managed to get things under control and stop the fall at 20%.

Q: What are the reasons for this downward trend? How should Bulgaria be advertised in Germany as a tourist destination?

A: The main reason is the global economic crisis, which hit Germany as well. Bulgaria and Germany are not the only countries, which see a reduction in travels. Nobody is immune from this crisis. Greece suffers the biggest losses with bookings down by 30%-40%. Turkey fares best with only 5% reduction in bookings. Bulgaria is somewhere in between.

Bulgaria is very poorly advertised in Germany, the channels that are being used are not the most efficient, the messages that are being sent are not the most appropriate. I believe that the decisions on how to invest the money allocated for advertising, which are far from enough, should be discussed with tour operators, which work on this market, knows it best and can capitalize on advertising campaigns that work.

Q: What were the tourist bourses in Berlin, Moscow and Bucharest indicative of?

A: The tourist bourses developed just as expected, while the one in Bucharest attracted a record-high number of Bulgarian participants. Apparently hoteliers and tour operators pin their hopes this season on the Romanian tourists, who can to a certain extent make up for the fall in bookings from the other European markets.

Q: What measures should the government take to counter the crisis? How do you assess the state reaction in comparison to the steps taken by the neighboring countries?

A: Bulgaria's government, regardless of which party the ministers are members of, has the habit of boasting of successes in tourism without doing anything about it. The economic growth that Bulgaria saw over the last few years was built upon the growth in construction, real estate and tourism sectors. It is only natural that the government should focus its efforts on the tourism sector, having in mind the total collapse that the construction and real estate sectors are faced with. The tourism industry plays an important role in Bulgaria's economy - it not only provides nearly 14% of the country's GDP, but also creates jobs at times of increasing jobless rates.

The only logical step that the government had to take is introduce a package of anti-crisis measures in a bid to provide incentives for the tourism business. All the more so that similar anti-crisis steps have already been introduced in Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, which are our rivals in the battle for clients along the sea coast. The governments of all these countries allocated more money for advertising, lowered taxes and fees, which are a heavy burden for the tourism sector, increased investments in the tourist infrastructure. Instead of this the only thing that the Bulgarian State Tourism Agency did was to try to convince us that there will be no fall in the number of tourists this season or if there is such a fall it will only be negligible.

Q: Is it realistic to expect that hoteliers will reduce prices for foreigners?

A: This is not only realistic, it is obligatory. The process has started and will continue during the peak of the season as well. Apart from a few hotels, which enjoy huge demand and practically sold out all their vacancies as early as in the winter, all other hotels extended the discounts for early bookings from the end of January or February to the end of April and renegotiated the prices and the conditions by the end of the season. The fact is that nearly each and every Bulgarian hotel in 2009 will offer more favorable terms for tourists than ever before.

Q: Do you expect a peak in Last-Minute bookings?

A: Nearly half of the tourists, who will go on holidays this summer, are yet to make up their mind where to head for. A slim percentage of them, those who have lost their jobs or fear they may soon become jobless, will most probably stay at home. The bigger part of them, however, will wait for favorable last-minute offers. With a large number of bed vacancies all around the world, there will be many attractive last-minute offers, more attractive than ever before. At the same time the good hotels that offer good quality/price value have already sold out all their vacancies and will not make any last-minute offers.

Q: Can we hope that the German market will remain the primary and most important marker for Bulgaria this year?

A: The first charter flights from Western Germany to Bulgaria's Black Sea coast were launched as early as 1963. Turkey, Egypt and many other destinations were not even on the tourist map at that time. Bulgaria does have traditions in the coastal tourism and these are invariably linked to the German clients. Germany has been and will remain the primary market, generating tourists for Bulgaria. The holiday is put on a pedestal in Germans' value system and Germans will continue to travel despite the crisis. Each one of us, who work in the tourism sector, should do the best we can not only to attract clients, but also make them happy with what we offer. Only then can we expect that tourism will be a success story.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!