Bulgarian Travel Market Through The Eyes Of A Pro

August is a month when things generally, well – they stopped. Cars were few and far between; businesses as well as government simply shut down for the month and the streets and shops had a noticeable absence of people. August was “the holiday month”. How things change in such a short space of time: cars are a bit thinner on the ground admittedly but the traffic can still be unbearable at peak times; businesses remain open as they have understood they cannot afford to simply close for the month, whilst the streets and shops, though quieter than normal, still see reasonable amounts of footfall. All this just goes to show that things are most definitely changing not just in the capital of Sofia but also in the country as a whole. People are not going to their traditional haunts on the Black Sea in August as they invariably can’t find suitable accommodation when they want it, or at least accommodation at prices local holidaymakers have become accustomed to. Hotels and apartments are being largely contracted by the big international Tour Operators for sale across their European network. Additionally many of the newly built hotels and apartments need to charge international prices to repay loans taken to build them. These in turn put them out of the budgetary reach of many local holidaymakers. Roll all these facts together and throw them into the melting pot and one can therefore see why holidays are now taken across the whole of the summer months and not just August. One can see why there has been such a proliferation of outgoing charter flights and package holidays to the likes of Spain and Tunis and one can see just why Bulgarian cars pour through the border crossings to Greece and Turkey during summer – its different and invariably its cheaper! Just as things are changing locally they are also likely to soon start changing nationally. In June Bulgaria signed the European Open Skies Agreement, which once ratified (probably between October and January) will effectively throw open the doors of Bulgarian air space to any airline registered in an EU country and wanting to fly here. Once the flood of new flights starts, it will continue as swiftly as one has seen across many other European countries. Already speculation is rife about who will and who will not be starting flights to Bulgaria, but an educated guess of potential entrants would immediately bring forth the names of Air Berlin , EasyJet and Ryanair. The latter names being of the ‘new breed’ of airline companies of which Wizz and SkyEurope have already trail blazed the path into Bulgaria. In expectation of these moves in the aviation world, airlines currently servicing Bulgaria are already gearing themselves up in an attempt to steal a march on future new entrants but in so doing may actually be making it easier for the newcomers when they do arrive. Most airline prices are now much cheaper than they were 5 years ago, even when adding the questionable taxes they add on, more airlines and flying more often to Bulgaria and the winner is the traveller who is able to take advantage of the competition between the airlines and travel cheaper. He or she also has considerably more options where to fly from after Malev Hungarian Airlines pioneered schedule flights to Europe from the Black Sea port of Varna and which now also sees the likes of Austrian Airlines, British Airways (BA) and Bulgaria Air operating regular flights. Likewise the country’s busiest airport Bourgas (yes, Bourgas) also now sees regular schedule flights with Bulgaria Air and Austrian Airlines. More flights, more airlines, more choice and cheaper flights is the bottom line. Expect the fares to tumble even more soon. BA, though, and Bulgaria Air almost certainly have one eye on ahead when they know serious competition will arrive. Building a market and building a market share (at whatever cost) may very well be the name of the game and if you hold market share its always harder for the new starts to steal it from you. Finally, one side issue that may arise with the possibility of all the extra flights arriving here is where will they land. Sofia Airport has a new terminal which will be able to handle roughly 50% more capacity than it does at present. The authorities also plan to keep using the old terminal and run the two side by side and it’s possible that the ‘Low Cost’ and Charter airlines will pay a reduced landing fee to use the old facility, whilst traditional airlines will be ‘encouraged ’ to use the new terminal. It does sound bizarre though that rather than use one terminal efficiently you would use two partially! The Black Sea Airports operates at breaking point and Fraport/BM Star, which has been given the concession to run the two airports, started modernising and enlarging the airport terminals. So what about other airports? Well, quite simply there is no ready answer but if you look at countries like Belgium and Italy where the low cost carriers fly to, they are not adverse in using so called secondary airports. Potential entrepreneurs could redevelop an airstrip to basic standards and entice airlines by effectively paying for them to land! The EU forbids governments from doing this but not private enterprises! So how about Plovdiv Airport (same as Frankfurt Hahn or Milan Bergamo) or what about the former airports at Rousse and Gorna Oriachovitsa (which still handles cargo flights) as potential landing points. Or what if the Black Sea resorts built their own airport rather like Bansko is talking of doing. Now that would liven things up. As many long-term expat will tell you, yes things are most definitely changing.