Manol Dimitrov: Bulgaria Can Accommodate 600 000 German Tourists a Year

Novinite Insider » INTERVIEW | Author: Milena Hristova |April 26, 2009, Sunday // 13:42
Bulgaria: Manol Dimitrov: Bulgaria Can Accommodate 600 000 German Tourists a Year Photo by www.bulgaria4you.org

Interview with Manol Dimitrov, head of the information-tourism center with the Union of Investors in Tourism at Frankfurt am Main, Germany

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: Bookings for Bulgaria from the German market mark a 15% drop as of the middle of April. I talk about the bookings under programmes of the four major tour operators - TUI, Neckermann-Thomas Cook, ITS and Alltours, which account for 80% of the German tourists who visited Bulgaria over the last 20 years. There is no official data about the number of Germans, who visited Bulgaria in 2008. According to unofficial information they mark about 5% increase over the previous year. Dresdner Bank and Freizeit und Reisen forecast that the decrease in the number of sold trips to the different destinations will be about 4-5%.

Until recently it was only Turkey and Spain, which marked an increase in bookings. Following the death of three young people, who drank tainted liquor at a prestigious Turkish resort, and the bad publicity that followed that growth rate will most probably not be in real terms. Over the last few years Turkey welcomed more than 4 million German tourists and tops the ranking of "preferred holiday destinations."

Judging by the conversations we had at the International Tourism Bourse (ITB) at Berlin with representatives of the above mentioned partners in Germany, I can say the drop will be about 5-6% in comparison with the strong season in 2008.

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

A: Bulgaria is a well known destination for the Germans. Germany has been the most important market for the local tourism for the last twenty years.

The number of the tourists from the German Democratic Republic up to 1988 totaled 320 000- 370 000. That was relatively the number of tourists from Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, Poland. A total of 90 000 - 160 000 tourists on average arrived from The Federal Republic of Germany. Their number could be even higher if it was not for the visa barrier, which was lifted in 1997-1998. Even in 1999, which was very difficult for the tourism sector because of NATO air strikes over Serbia, it was only Germany which marked a 5% growth in the number of tourists to Bulgaria's resorts on the Black Sea coast. Only 90 000 Russian tourists and about 110 000 tourists from the United Kingdom visited Bulgaria the summer that year. Nowadays the tourists from these countries stand at about 300 000.

The stalemate in the number of bookings for our country is due to a change in the lifestyle of consumers, the lack of low-cost/charter and regular flights to Varna and Burgas with prices of return tickets at about EUR 90-145, the lack of joint advertisement with big tour operators in the German media, the lack of cooperation between the private hoteliers and state institutions, such as the State Tourism Agency, the Association of hoteliers and restaurant owners, the municipalities which contain our resorts.

Up to 1996, when Bulgarian resorts were still state-owned, Bulgaria was represented at ten big international tourism fairs. It has participated at only 3 such fairs over the last three years, including the International Tourism Bourse.

What is most important is that the prices of tour operators for advertisements in popular newspapers and magazines, TV and radio stations are about 50% lower that the one offered to the State Tourism Agency.

The other countries, which are our rivals for tourists from the German market, has long-term strategies about how to advertise their tourism sector. The budgets they allocate for the sector spread for four-five years ahead. Countries such as Greece, Turkey, Switzerland, Austria, Tunisia, Egypt and others hire big advertising companies in Germany, which know how to make the strongest impact on the final consumer. At times of crisis the focus is on prices, early bookings incentives, online raids with cheap flights and additional services.

All tour operators announced big discounts for bookings up to January 30 only to extend the deadline till the end of February. Bild am Sonntag, a weekly with a circulation of 3 million copies, is full of ads of hotels and low-cost flights.

Bulgaria is not that agressively advertised, because hotel owners did not give their consent or funding for this kind of advertisements when contracting tour operators.

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

A: I can tell you my impressions only from the International Tourism Bourse in Berlin, which took place in March 2009 and which I have been attending every year since 1976.

This global tourism forum is all about meetings, negotiations and new contacts. Local managers know this model well and are doing their best to make the most of their stay in Berlin. At the same time each of Bulgaria's rival destinations organizes a number of events, which have been planned months ahead. Bulgaria's State Tourism Agency, however, somehow feels it is not its obligation to send invitations, register journalists and foreign partners.

What happened this year is a precedent in the history of Bulgaria's participation in the event - this was the first time since 20 years that Bulgaria did not hold a press conference for the journalists at the International Tourism Bourse.

To this very day the State Tourism Agency has not hired a person to deal with media relations. The well known journalist Milena Milutinova was appointed to deal with these issues in 2007 and she definitely did not do a great job. I saw many journalists who came to Bulgaria's stand at the ITB to ask for information and they just did not get any.

It was only the coastal municipality of Varna, the Hotel association of the Golden Sands resort, the municipality of Nessebar and Balchik that made a good impression with their presentations at the forum. The same holds true for he capital, which for the fifth year in a row offered visitors stylish information materials, hotels' guide and maps.

Bulgaria Air also made a successful performance at the ITB. The company representative at Frankfurt am Main Orlin Dimitrov said the airline offers flights to Sofia at prices of under EUR 180, which was unthinkable jut a year ago. The upgrade in the company fleet with new planes and flights from Berlin and Frankfurt am Main is a success for Bulgaria Air. We should not forget that a number of prominent airlines - such as the Austrian, Swiss and Italian airlines - were on the brink of bankruptcy over the last two years.

ITB confirmed forecasts for unclear and heavy times ahead. Prominent experts in the sector go as far as to say that 2010 will be more difficult than 2009 due to a rise in Germany's unemployment rate, the expected slow-down in the German economy by 6%. It is well known that every year the Germans get one more salary at the end of the year, as well as the so-called holiday money or Urlaubsgeld, which range between 60-70% of the monthly pay. Most Germans will definitely a lot this money for a trip abroad. Yet experts say that whether they will receive this money in the first place and how much this money will be remains an open question.

Q: What are the trends that will shape the German market in 2009? Is it realistic to expect that hoteliers will reduce prices for foreigners?

A: This will be the year of last-minute bookings, which will bring excitement on the market in August-September. Tour operators and tour agencies describe 2009 as the year of the all-inclusive packages. A confirmation of this forecast can be found in the targeted advertisements of Spanish, Greek and Turkish resorts.

Many Bulgarian hoteliers were pushed to revise their prices downwards. Over the last few years Bulgarian sea resorts offer high-quality accommodation at good prices and the owners are not inclined to reduce prices at the beginning of the season. To make up for this shortcoming, however, they offer a number of services that are included in the package prices, such as wellness and spa packages, beach services, additional trips.

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: The Bulgarian government should allocate a big enough budget for advertising the country as a tourist destination in 2010. The campaign should target markets, which are of strategic importance to the national tourism such as Germany, Great Britain, the Scandinavian countries, Russia. As a EU member state Bulgaria should seek partnership with low-cost carriers and ways to extend its charter program, which now operates from May 2-5 till October 5-10.

Prices of services offered should be very strictly monitored. Over the last few years Bulgaria was among the top ten destinations, preferred by the German tourists. Now this is not the case any more. Until recently the good prices were also the best advertisement with which to attract tourists to Bulgaria. Only for two years however the prices of the additional services jumped by 30%. When prices are higher, tourists also expect higher quality of the services offered. This is not what German tourists found at Bulgaria's top winter resorts of Bansko and Borovets. For the third year in a row not a single big German tour operator has included a Bulgarian mountain resort in its winter programmers.

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

A: Last-minute bookings accounted for 16% of all bookings in Germany last year. They are an important, but a not crucial condition for a rise in bookings. As I already mentioned, this type of promotions will only be partially successful in the absence of a well targeted price advertisements with tour operators.

Over the last two years ITS, the thid biggest tour operator in Germany, which sent over 150 000 tourists to Bulgaria in 2008, has been succesfully implementing a strategy that relies on the publishing of the so-called „early catalogue of Bulgaria". You can find it at tourism agencies as early as in September and it is valid up to October 31 the same year. Toursits get a 15% iscount if they book before that deadline. This type of promotions made it posible for ITS to sell more than 40 000 travels to Bulgaria before the end of the year and marked a 18% increase on an yearly basis. Amidst the global finanical crisis and Germans' famous practicality and bargain-hunting such publications will certainly be successful in the future as well. This type of joint advertisement activities does not cost much and when it is accompanied by articles in the press it is really successful.

Q: Will Germany remain the primary market for Bulgaria's tourism sector? Is the German the ideal tourist for Bulgaria?

A: The German market will definitely retain its primary significance for the local tourism sector - about 60% of the German tourists, who travel to Bulgaria, are aged over 55. These are people, who travel abroad at least twice a year and do it all the year round.

The launch of charter schedules from 28 German airports to Varna and Burgas started at the end of April till the end of October. No other European country offers charter flights over such a long period.

With its modern hotels, diverse infrastructure, well preserved nature, well trained staff and convenient flights Bulgaria can accommodate about 600 000 German tourists a year.

The German is the ideal tourist for Bulgaria's resorts. The German spends an average of 9 days and pays about 70 euros per day for his stay at the hotel most often as part of an all-inclusive package.

Bulgaria is one of few countries, which offers a fixed exchange rate to the euro.

 

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

Interview » Be a reporter: Write and send your article

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria