Money Needed for the Development of Bulgarian Tourism
Sofia Echo Com, Ivan Vatahov, 29.05.2006
A lot of money is still needed for the development of Bulgarian tourism and this fact was proven by several things happening in the past week.
InvestBulgaria Agency executive director Stoyan Stalev on May 19 delivered a First Class Investment Certificate for an investment project to be implemented by Perelik Sports and Tourist Centre.
This is the third Bulgarian investor to get such a certificate.
The project envisages construction of an integrated system of winter and summer sports facilities, mountain accommodations and improvement of the infrastructure and spatial development in the land-use areas of Smolyan and the villages of Stoikite, Gela, Solishta, Stikul and Mougla (all in the Rhodope Mountains).
The new resort will have 55 km of ski runs, ski facilities, snow guns, 25 ski lift lines, shelters and cafeterias, ski equipment rental, indoor parking, recreation, sports and amusement spots, as well as hotels and vacation apartments.
Infrastructure would be built mainly on deforested and denuded land, and mostly in the lower-altitude parts, said Kiril Asenov, board chairman of Perelik.
The company will plant 35-40 per cent more trees than it will have to remove when laying the future state-of-the-art ski runs.
The project is financed by the company shareholders, which are Bulgarian and international financial institutions. Capital expenditures are planned at 255 million euro.
Stalev said that the state would have to invest heavily in the construction of roads reaching the future resort. He noted that Perelik would attract tourists from Greece and from all over the Balkans.
In another development, the European Union will be expected to finance the construction of a visitors centre at Perperikon, the holy city of the Thracians in the Eastern Rhodope Mountains. This was announced on May 19 by architect Mincho Neichev at a news conference.
The European Commission was expected to approve the project within three weeks, said Neichev, who is in charge of restoration and conservation work at Perperikon.
The cost of the project is estimated at between 2.8 million and three million euro. It is to be financed under the EU Phare Programme, and may be launched either at the beginning or in the middle of 2007. Sixty-three experts are involved in the project design.
The visitors centre will cover an area of 1300 sq m. It will be a two-floor building, with the main exposition arranged on the upper floor. The first floor will house a conference hall. There will be also archaeological workshops and storage facilities, as well as a car park outside the building. Pedestrian access paths will be built.
The project team is considering a “donkey taxi” service of the type available at historical sites in Syria and Jordan.
Neichev and archaeologist Nikolai Ovcharov travelled to those two countries recently to study cultural monuments and get ideas for future tourist facilities at Perperikon.
An aerial cableway may be built at a later point. An amphitheatre with a lake in front of it will be constructed at the foot of the hill on which the ancient stone city is perched.
Kempinski Hotel Zografski Sofia said the first stage of the complete renovation of its rooms had been completed and the hotel was now ready to offer to its guests its first entirely renovated rooms.
The spacious rooms have a new modern look where the elegant lines of Italian furniture combines with the warm comforting hues of the wood fragments, carpet and curtains. The rooms are equipped with the latest technology like high-speed Internet, LCD and plasma screens and modern hotel entertainment systems as well as with safety systems installed in compliance with the latest security standards. The rooms have smart card locking system and a personal safe, new pay TV system with a helpful hotel info channel and others.
Aiming to minimise the possible inconvenience, the renovation is planned to complete in stages and the following months will bring new improvements.
Radisson SAS Grand Hotel in Sofia has a new manager, whose name is Fernando Grunberg-Stern.
He replaces Martin Kolb, who is to take care of three hotels of the international chain Southern Sun Hotels & Resorts in Dubai.
Grunberg-Stern, who is of a mixed Chilean-German origin, is a hotel and business administration graduate and in the past two years has been the general manager of Radisson SAS Gewandhaus Hotel in the German city of Dresden.
The official ceremony, in which Kolb transferred the management to Grunberg-Stern took place on May 19.
Member of:
Head Office: 43 Dospat Str., 1463 Sofia, Bulgaria
Touroperator
