The drop of foreign tourists visiting Bulgaria in January-May 2009 stands at 7.6 per cent from the like period in 2008, Chairwoman of the State Agency of Tourism Anelia Kroushkova said Tuesday, speaking at a news conference. Visitors from EU member states decreased by 5.2 per cent. Proceeds from tourism stood at 566.3 million euros, or 7.6 per cent down the like figure in 2008.

Growth is reported in the number of tourists coming from Romania, by 20 per cent, the Czech Republic, 21 per cent, Slovakia, 33 per cent, Hungary, 35 per cent, and Poland, 30 per cent.

Decrease is reported in the number of tourists coming from Germany, by 20 per cent, Britain, 21 per cent, Russia, 7.3 per cent, Serbia, 37 per cent, and Macedonia, 4 per cent.

The drop in the tourist sector in the countries in this country's region is between 20 and 50 per cent, so one could say that Bulgaria is in a better situation. Only Turkey reports an increase in foreign tourists, Kroushkova said.

In January-May 2009 14 per cent fewer Bulgarian travelled abroad than the same period in the previous year.

Data of the World Tourism Organization show that the number of tourists worldwide has dropped by 8 per cent as at the end of April 2009.

Ten years from now five per cent of the hotels in Bulgaria will become a dead zone, Director of the Institute for Analyses and Assessments in Tourism (IAAT) Roumen Darganov said.

He said that at the moment 20 per cent of hotels in this country are closed, five per cent of which are economically unfeasible, Draganov said. According to him the survival of such closed or even derelict hotels could be to turn them into hospitals, hospices, homes for the elderly, or even prisons. However, President of the Alma Tour tour operator Lyubomir Pankovski said that is is a bit premature to speak about the advent of such a trend in Bulgaria.

Draganov said that more than 700 corporeal immovables: hotels, apartment houses, properties bigger than a family house, have now been offered for sale. According to Draganov, one way to stop such facilities from becoming a burden to their owners is to urgently pass legal amendments which allow the introduction in Bulgaria of time-shares.

IAAT has estimated that Bulgarian holiday makers at the Black Sea in August will be 7 per cent more than the same month in 2008, which would offset the decrease in the number of foreign tourists. Pankovski said that in his tour agency the share of Bulgarian tourists who plan to spend their holiday in their home country exceeds 60 per cent.

IAAT data show that in 2008 a total of 16.5 million Bulgarians travelled in the country as tourists. The figure this year is expected to increase by three per cent.

However, proceeds from tourism in this country are expected to shrink between 20 and 25 per cent, attributed to both lower prices as well as people's reluctance to spend lavishly while on holiday.

Representative of the tourist sector have renewed their demand for creating a Ministry of Tourism. The state should take over the management of public and municipal assets of the cultural material and non-material heritage, as well as natural resources related to tourism. The state should also be more committed to the preparation of the national tourist promotion strategy, Pankovski said.

Source: BTA