The Bulgarian Tourist Chamber has forecast a profitable winter season for the country's ski resorts, according to its chair Tsvetan Tonchev.

This will be largely due to the large number of Bulgarian tourists, who will be the major group of holidaymakers this winter, Tonchev told Focus Sunday.

Toshev's comments come after great worries among the Bulgarian winter tourism industry because of the lack of snow in November and early December, which, however, was followed by heavy snowfall last week.

On Friday, Borovets was the last major Bulgarian ski resort, after Bansko and Pamporovo, to open its winter season.

"The Bulgarians are saving money to be able to take a break," Tonchev commented Sunday.

"As a whole, we have ahead of us not such a good winter season but still a decent one," he stated.

According to the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Tourism, the number of tourists visiting Bulgaria's winter resorts is expected to grow by 5%-10% in 2011-2012 year-on-year; the Bulgarian Tourist Chamber has put the number at 7%. In the 2010-2011 season, the Bulgarian winter tourism industry made a total of EUR 204 M, estimates showed, about ten times less than the summer tourism industry along the Black Sea coast.

Tonchev pointed out that the satisfied tourists are the best means of advertising.

"We cannot compare with countries such as Turkey which pours EUR 100 M in advertising, while we spend only a few million. Ski instructors and ski packages are a good way to advertise our resorts. The Bulgarian ski instructors are some of the best in Europe," explained the head of the Bulgarian Tourist Chamber.

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