"No, I won't go there, I am sick of it." These are the responses that I have been getting non-stop from colleagues, relatives and friends when broaching the subject of going to the Bulgarian seaside.
A huge part of the active and working people in the Bulgarian capital have been spending over the last two or three years their summer holidays south of Sofia, in Greece and Halkidiki in particular. We saw a repeat of the same scenario during the Easter and May holidays this year.
And despite gloomy forecasts my feeling is that Greece won't suffer a whopping decrease in Bulgarian tourists' bookings this summer even though the country has been dealt a heavy blow by the global economic crisis and domestic turbulence.
Over the last few years Greece has been the greatest destination for Bulgaria's short break fans, who would rather find their pleasures closer to home and whose batteries take longer to recharge.
Culturally Bulgarians are not very willing to go to far away destinations and in comparison with the decrease in the number of Bulgarians going abroad, all signs show that the figures for Greece will be good in 2011 too.
This year, no doubt, Greece is going through its most difficult period. Unfortunately the good news about Bulgarian tourists will not bring much expected respite from their woes. A local from Skopelos island summed it up nicely for me a few days ago:
"The problem is not about foreign tourists. The problem is about Greek tourists. All the things people watch on the TV! Isn't this just madness?"