Bulgaria 'Strikes Back' at Brits over BBC Film

Business | October 5, 2013, Saturday // 11:09
Bulgaria 'Strikes Back' at Brits over BBC Film: Bulgaria 'Strikes Back' at Brits over BBC Film Bulgaria is retaliating for a recent BBC documentary with photos of British nightlife in the country's resorts. Photo beu.bg

The BBC team, who recently filmed a documentary on Bulgaria's Sunny Beach resort, came back to their hotel totally drunk every night.

The revelation was made before the BGNES news agency by Veselin Nalbantov, owner of the hotel, where the British journalists have been accommodated.

At the beginning of the week, The BBC aired the documentary, "Booze, Bar Crawls & Bulgaria", which focuses on the sometimes devastating consequences of the "no-rules" party scene in Sunny Beach where alcohol can be bought for the lowest prices in Europe and bar crawls dominate the strip.

The Bulgarian resort is described as place offering cheap booze, drugs, sex and bar hoping, and as being a crime hub.

Bulgarian hotel managers have now declared they would sue BBC, as they believe the documentary is damaging the resort's reputation.

Deputy Economy Minister Branimir Botev, who is in charge of tourism, has pointed out that tourists from over 40 countries visit the country's summer resorts.

"We do not have similar problems with any of them," he told the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.

Blagoy Ragin, head of the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association, has echoed Botev's words, saying Britons account for just 5% of the tourists visiting Bulgaria – and still cause most of the alcohol-related problems.

Ragin said authorities are seeking ways to ban shops in Bulgaria's Black Sea resorts from selling alcohol.

The Mayor of the historical coastal town of Nessebar, Nikolay Dimitrov, called the film biased, while Bulgarians on Facebook have started an action to show to the world Brits binging on alcohol in Bulgaria.

Sunny Beach is believed to have found its place in the hearts of young Britons, ousting Magaluf and Kavos as their favorite party destination. But UK holidaymakers have been increasingly getting into problems in the resort, with the crime rate increasing and hospitals reporting soaring numbers of Brits being rushed to A&E.

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Tags: BBC, Bulgaria, Sunny Beach, tourists, alcohol, Black Sea, tourism

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