Bulgaria’s 2011 ski season
The next few weeks see the 
at Bulgaria’s three major winter resorts, Bansko, Borovets and Pamporovo.
The official opening of the season is December 17, but in effect – and depending on snowfall – proceedings are to be underway before then. Nature is also getting a helping hand from snow-making machines.
Bansko is to boast a number of new commercial establishments, notably near the lower station of the gondola life, while the ice rink, recently renovated, was scheduled to open in late November. Equipment to prevent avalanches has been installed and additional snow cannons have been bought.
Bansko has a total of 75km of slopes and a seven km illuminated run for night skiing.
A boost for Bansko this season is that it will be hosting, in February, two starts of the 2011/12 Alpine Ski World Cup.
Local media said that prices of tourist offers in Bansko were largely unchanged from last year.
Yanka Rahova, head of the Union of Tourist Business in Bansko, said that the resort would offer many cultural events for visitors this year.
Prices of ski passes had not been announced, but were expected to be similar to those of last year.
According to a report in mass-circulation daily 24 Chassa, in Borovets there were luxury hotels that were asking 76 leva a night before January 1 and after March 1 next year, while peak-season prices rose to 134 leva a person. There were currently offers of 162 leva for three-night packages and 270 leva for five nights.
In Pamporovo, snow machines began working on November 15. By late November, estimates were that 40 per cent of the pistes were covered with artificial snow.
Current plans are for the ceremony for the official opening of the season in Pamporovo to be held on December 10, with a lavish show and free rides on the lifts that day.
The resort is installing ski pass dispensing machines, due to start operating on December 5, which would save queueing.
Reports said that ski passes were 32 leva a day for adults, but after the official start of the season, a half-day pass would cost 20 leva.
On February 12 and 13, Pamporovo is hosting the European skiing men’s cup, being co-organised by Pamporovo AD and the Bulgarian Ski Federation.
No new tracks have been laid at Pamporovo, but 37km of the runs have been upgraded. The resort has become popular in recent years for snowboarding and freestyle skiing, given the advantage of the contours of the slopes and the extremely low risk of avalanches. Pamporovo also boasts a separate area for children aged three to 10 who are just beginning to ski.
Bulgarian-language media said that while prices at resorts were similar to those of last year, the rate of bookings by foreign tourists appeared to be similar, if not lower. In Pamporovo, a double room during the Christmas holidays was reported to cost 780 leva for a three-day package.
Reports about the extent to which accommodation has been booked up at various resorts were mixed. The village of Mogilitsa, in Smolyan, was reported to be 60 per cent booked for Christmas and New Year. In Chepelare, most family hotels were said to be booked for the entire season, local media said.
Bulgarian National Television quoted Roumen Draganov, head of the Institute for Analysis and Assessment in Tourism, as saying that by the end of November, most of the best hotels would be booked up.
Blagoy Ragin, chairman of the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association, advised people buying packages to seek to bargain about the prices they would pay.
A factor in trends every winter tourist season is that skiers tend to make bookings at the last minute, making it difficult for tourist industry commentators to predict accurately the outcome of the season.
Currently, going by early bookings, there appeared to be a downturn in bookings from Russia and the UK, while – according to mass-circulation daily Trud – Bulgarian hoteliers were pinning their hopes on attracting tourists from neighbouring countries, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania and Turkey. Hoteliers were not expecting a repeat of last year’s large influx of Greek tourists, who in the 2010 winter season made up the third-largest group in the resorts.
Text and photo: sofiaecho.com
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