Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
town on the piedmont attracted US$40m
investments in tourism in 2004. A new
gondola cableway, eight other lifts and 50
snow-guns have been installed.
heritage and the numerous second homes
available for renting to tourists (see the website
www.netinfo.bg)
. So far the most successful
rural tourism areas are near the mountain
resorts and the cultural heritage towns (e.g.
Veliko Turnovo). However, the poor state of
infrastructure and depopulation of large areas
of the countryside are barriers to rural tourism
development.
Hiking and trekking
Hiking and trekking has a long tradition in
Bulgaria: the Bulgarian Union of Hikers was
founded in 1895. A network of over 200 moun-
tain hostels (huts) is located mostly in high and
medium mountain areas. A few of them have
been modernized and upgraded to accommo-
date more demanding guests.
Cultural and business tourism
Cultural tourism and business visits in Bulgaria
are largely restricted to the cities and some small
towns with Bulgarian Orthodox Revival sites in
the mountain foothills or at the seaside, such
as Nesebur, Sozopol, Triavna, Melnik, Zheravna,
Bozhentsi, Samokov, Koprivshtitsa, Elena,
Etropole. Other important urban tourism centres
are Plovdiv and Veliko Turnovo, which have the
appeal of what Hall (1991) has termed 'cultural
capitals' in Central and Eastern Europe.
The Orthodox churches, and especially the
160 monasteries, among them Rila, Bachkovo,
Troyan, Preobrazhenski and Rozhen, are one
of the strengths of Bulgarian cultural tourism.
Together with the country's rich folklore tradi-
tion, they should play a much bigger role in the
country's range of tourist attractions. At present,
few foreigners on holiday at the Black Sea, or in
the mountain resorts, travel inside the country
in order to visit cultural heritage sites. This is
often a result of the poor promotion of the latter,
although there is a considerable potential for
tempting these groups away from their bases for
a short time, as well as developing exclusively
cultural tours.
During the post-Communist transition the
political importance of the cultural tourism has
been acknowledged, although dominance of
the prevailing perception of 'heritage' within
the country rather than market-oriented devel-
opment (Hughes and Allen, 2005) has been
hindering the expansion of cultural tourism
despite its considerable potential.
Spa resorts
Spa resorts used to play a very important part in
the Bulgarian health system, but now have a
minor role. Only 20% of the rest homes run by
the Association of Trade Unions up to 1991 still
function as a recreational network. The remain-
der were privatized, some changed functions,
others turned into hotels or were simply aban-
doned. The Bulgarian sanatoria network was
reduced between 1990 and 2000 from 184 to
30 establishments (NSI, 2001). Many of the
former sanatoria were transformed into rehabi-
litation hospitals and private clinics. The main
spa centres of Velingrad, Hisarya, Varshets,
Sandanski, Kostenets, Pomorie, Bankya are
situated in attractive environments and in com-
bination with water sports, mountain hiking,
rural tourism and retirement migration, are well
patronized by a domestic market. None the less,
because of ongoing changes in function, the
average length of stay has decreased.
Rural tourism
Rural tourism is deeply rooted in tradition as the
majority of the Bulgarian population are of
rural origin. There are 480,000 second homes
throughout the country. As a participant in the
foreign tourism market, however, Bulgaria is a
newcomer. In spite of the fact that the country is
not within driving distance of Western Europe,
there is considerable potential for rural tourism
on the basis of the rich natural and cultural
Ecotourism and adventure tourism
Ecotourist and adventure itineraries and other
activities organized by specialized tour operators
