Minister Baltova: Short-stay trips as precondition for all-year-round tourism

“Short-stay trips are a real opportunity for our country to work for achieving its long-term goal – to become an all-year-round visited destination.” With these words the Minister of Tourism Assoc. Prof. Stela Baltova addressed the participants in the discussion “Short-stay trips – a precondition for all-year-round tourism”, organized by the Ministry of Tourism in the framework of the International Tourist Fair HOLIDAY/SPA EXPO. The deputy Minister of Tourism Irena Georgieva also took part in it.

Minister Baltova emphasized that there were many and diverse opportunities to be offered by our country as all-year-round destination – alternative forms of tourism outside high seasons such as cultural, spa and eco/adventure tourism, student vacations, pre-holiday campaigns, etc.

She noted that the target groups which the Bulgarian tourism industry should focus on are mainly two – foreigners from close distance markets – such as traditional ones (Romania, Greece, Turkey, Serbia, and Macedonia), and markets with untapped potential (Albania, Hungary, Slovakia, Italy and Belorussia).

The second and not less significant development should be oriented towards Bulgarians travelling in their own country. “Bulgaria should respond to the tendencies in order to continue the upward trend in foreign visits and the trips of Bulgarians in the country”, said minister Baltova. She called on the representatives of business and regions to focus on a more efficient application of smart packages – short, meaningful vacations at advantageous prices, booked online for 100 seconds.

The Minister of Tourism presented data from the European Traveler Insights report. It outlines three tendencies in the travel of Europeans in 2016, which will impact demand in 2017 and in following years. First and foremost is the fact that Europeans prefer more, but shorter trips. In 2016 booked flights for short trips rose by 17% compared with 2015. The second trend shows that travellers book outbound and return flights of different airlines in order to save money. The people who did that in 2016 are by 21% more than those in 2015. From the combining of airlines the average flight price for short breaks drops by 7%: from EUR 177 to EUR 167 in 2016. According to the third trend, technologies are taking over the tourist market – at present over 7 billion flight price calculations are made per hour, and the time for booking a direct flight takes about 100 seconds. Online booking of trips is the biggest sector in e-commerce, which is 3 times bigger than the second sector – that of the clothing industry. This became clear from the words of the Minister of Tourism.  

According to data of the World Tourism Organization, there were about 1.2 billion international visits in total in 2015, 50% were generated from European citizens, 76% were in the area of origin of travellers. According to NSI, the average stay of foreigners in Bulgaria from 7.1 overnights in 2001 dropped to 4.7 overnights in 2015. 84% of all trips of Bulgarians are in the country and 53% of them are short – one to three overnights, and 31% are long (over four overnights). Also according to the national statistics and other surveys, the average stay in Bulgaria for the period 2001-2015 is 2.4 overnights and the longest stay is on the Black Sea coast, Rila, Pirin, the Rhodopes, and the Valley of Roses.   

Representatives of the tourist industry, tour operators and hotel operators took part in the panel discussion as well. “In Plovdiv we decided to develop the tourist product by organizing events. Work needs to be done so that every town in the country becomes an all-year-round destination”, noted Lyubozar Fratev, chairman of the tourist association “Trakia Tourist Region” and of Plovdiv Tourism Council.

Daniela Stoeva, member of the Management Board of ABTTA (Tourism), placed a focus on the specialized services in the sector. “So far Sofia has not been known as a destination for opera and concerts, but the successful performance of Wagner’s tetralogy “Ring of the Nibelung” by Sofia Opera and Ballet establishes our capital successfully as such destination”, she said. In her words, an important motive for choosing a short trip is whether its date coincides with a cultural event. Other reasons for choosing short trips are when people need a break to change their environment as compensation of the missed main vacation, availing of seasonal discounts, convenient form of gift trip, etc.

“City business hotels depend on the sustainability of the market environment”, said Zhulieta Serafimova, general manager of Grand Hotel Sofia and director of business development of Sofia Hotels Management. “We are interested our guests to learn more about the culture and history of the city. We all, the business and authorities, are ambassadors of the destination and should work together for its development”, she added. In her view, Sofia hotels should increase their revenues from ancillary services, not only from accommodation and food. To this end, large congress events should be attracted. Serafimova added that it was high time Sofia had a congress bureau. The group she manages opts for training revenue managers, not sales managers.

Assoc. Prof. Sonya Aleksieva moderated the discussion.