5% increase in tourists in our ski resorts awaits this winter season. The forecast was made by the line minister Evtim Miloshev at the opening of the winter season in Pamporovo, NOVA reported.
However, the resorts will welcome the first tourists with higher prices, although the VAT for hoteliers and restaurateurs remains unchanged for now.
Winter resorts will welcome tourists with higher prices this season due to the return of the VAT rate from 9 to 20 percent for sports facilities. This will affect the prices of lift passes, facilities and services. According to the acting minister of tourism, this makes us uncompetitive compared to alpine resorts. However, an 11% increase in foreign tourists is expected.
Pamporovo started the winter season with seven open slopes. The rain did not scare away the enthusiasts like the Daskalovi family from Yambol.
Today and tomorrow they will benefit from the reduction of the cards - 25 BGN for a child and 40 for an adult. After two weeks, however, the price becomes BGN 98.
Zhivko Daskalov defines it as expensive. "If we have to drive four people, it will come a bit more expensive. That's why we'll only drive the two of us for now," he points out.
The minister explained the price increase with the return of VAT from 9% to 20%.
"We are talking about Value Added Tax for sports facilities. This is the most painful topic for our winter resorts, because this price directly affects the price of the card for the use of ski facilities. It does not make us competitive in the entire alpine resorts and countries in general", says Evtim Miloshev.
The hoteliers want compensation - they paid too expensive electricity, they were threatened with bankruptcy
According to the executive director of "Pamporovo" AD the minimum by which the price will rise is 11 percent. "We want to compensate for VAT and we have announced such a price at the moment. Unfortunately, we fought a big battle for VAT to remain at 9 percent, as all our EU competitors have a differentiated rate of this VAT. People see access to sports facilities as health," explained Mariyan Belyakov.
Although VAT for hoteliers remains unchanged for now, many places to stay have increased their prices.
Ekaterina Dafovska says that before the season she raised the prices by 10%." For three years, we have not stopped raising salaries, insurance and our expenses are increasing more and more, she specifies.
According to economists, the return of the 20% VAT rate will bring more revenue to the state treasury. But it is possible to reach an expansion of the gray sector in hotels and restaurants.
Pamporovo is preparing for the ski season, lift tickets are expected to rise in price
"Purely competitive and market mechanisms would not allow restaurateurs to increase prices punitively to the point that they cannot be competitive in the direct markets that Bulgarians are targeting such as Greece, Croatia and Albania," commented Adrian Nikolov.
Restaurants and taverns in Pamporovo keep last year's prices for now.
"Lunch and dinner will be somewhere around 100 BGN, I guess. This includes a normal meal with everything - soup, second, non-alcoholic," says restaurant owner Yordan Todorov.
And this year, Pamporovo will rely on tourists from Great Britain, Turkey, Ireland and Israel. And the students have already taken over the resort.