Bulgarians Discover Cheap Holidays at Their Seaside with...German Tour Operators

By Victor Ivanov

waz.euobserver.com

Bulgarians are enjoying an unexpected benefit of the single European market this year. They can already book a cheap holiday at the Bulgarian Black Sea resorts through the largest German tour operators TUI, Neckermann or Dertour, said Magdalena Saikova, manager of a Bulgarian tourist agency.

"Until very recently, German tour operators required their Bulgarian clients to pay the price of the charter flight from Germany to the Bulgarian Black Sea coast as well, but not anymore," she explained.

"There are cases when the operators close a hotel for bookings from Bulgaria, but these are rare cases, or made at the request of the hotel," Ms Saikova explained.

German tour operators have been enjoying better offers for Bulgarian hotels than Bulgarian tour operators for many years because they operate on a larger market, noted Donka Sokolova, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Bulgarian Association of Tourist Agencies.

"The prices offered by the German tour operators are at least 10 percent lower than those of their Bulgarian colleagues, and the difference sometimes is as large as 50 percent in favour of the German offers," Ms Saikova said.

The Bulgarian newspaper 24 Hours browsed the offers of the large German tour operators and found options to stay at a four-star hotel at the Black sea coast as cheap as 20 Bulgarian leva per person.

Such prices in Bulgaria can be found only in private accommodation, the Bulgarian version of the European B&B, but without breakfast.

"Buying a cheap holiday from a German tour operator is usually made through a Bulgarian tourist agency, working with German catalogues. Thus, Bulgarians avoid paying via internet, since most Bulgarian bank cards are not authorised for online payments. Furthermore, having completed the transaction through a Bulgarian company, the local tourists are protected by the customer protection legislation in the country should they lose their holiday," Ms Sokolova said.

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