Literature Review: Bulgaria PDF

Running head: DISSERTATION
Literature Review:
Bulgaria is one of the largest countries by size in Southeast Europe and one of the
oldest nations in the European continent. It was found in 7th century and it hosted numerous
large and prominent civilizations in the history (Todorova 2018). The rich cultural heritage of
Bulgaria makes it an attractive tourist destination every year. In addition to its culture, the other
aspects that enhances the attraction of Bulgaria amongst its tourist has been its affordable and
higher-quality medical care facilities, universities and high quality of accommodation and
conference facilities for businesses. This research study commences with a discussion on what
the academic researchers think about this tourism destination.
Ivanov (2017), tried to provide an insight into the well-established aspect of mass
tourism in Bulgaria. He further went onto say that its emergence dated back to 1926 when
organized tourist visited Varna. During communist period marked between 1944 and 1989,
tourism had been recognized by communist party as a crucial economic sector and key source
of the foreign exchange. During the time huge tourist resort got constructed on the coast of
Black Sea and the mountains that predominantly served the international tourist. In the course,
Bulgaria tried to promote different tourism products thereby initiating mass tourism. Tourism was
found to regain momentum post 2000 and by the year 2014 the country witnessed a huge scale
official that enabled it in categorizing over three thousand accommodation establishments. In
the year 2014, the source of tourist market for tourism industry in Bulgaria has been dominated
by Russia and Greece followed by Romania, United Kingdom and Poland.
On the other hand, Dyankov, Krastev and Yancheva (2018) evaluated brand identity of
Bulgaria as a major factor for attracting tourist to the destination. They tried to explore the
present brand identity of Bulgaria based on multidimensional aspects. According to them, the
characteristics of brand identity reflects a compound influence on soft power of destination,
destination image as well as the brand image. Therefore, identification of brand identity is
crucial for positioning Bulgaria in the world market for tourism.
On the other hand, Ivanova (2018), tried to analyze the tourist visit in Bulgaria based on
the carrying capacity. The idea of carrying capacity represents the concept of sustainable
development in tourism. He along with other authors defined the concept by mentioning that
sustainable development in tourism lies in the philosophy of development and management for

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resource planning, better social, cultural and economic development, environment protection,
improvement in welfare of the local communities and providing higher levels of satisfaction
amongst consumer in the long term. In spite of the straightforwardness and clarity of the
concept, its implementation is mostly hindered by the problems and difficulties stemming from
holistic nature of sustainability and spatial and temporal dimensions. Tourism refers to part of
global culture and economy whose decisions remains focused primarily on the tourist
destinations whose visible process and impacts has been assumed to be the integral parts. In
this regard, carrying capacity represents the desire of transforming the general decisions into
location specific and time-based local solutions. According to him, carrying capacity has been
considered as the fundamental aspect of the tourism sustainability that might be used as
framework for evaluating the impact on specific tourism destinations like Bulgaria for preventing
it from the adverse influence of tourism and maintaining viability of the destination for the long
run. Basically, the carrying capacity of a particular destination represents the extent to which it
can be used for the purpose of tourism without any adverse effects. World Tourism Organization
(WTO), defined the aspect of tourism carrying capacity as, “the maximum number of people that
may visit a tourism destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical,
economic and sociocultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of the
visitors’ satisfaction”.
An Insight to the History of Bulgaria
Over the years, number of British travelers to Bulgaria has increased, although by total
number of visitor arrival, UK holds the 10th position, while Romania holds the first position
(Nsi.bg 2020). This research study explores the factors that could make Bulgaria more attractive
tourist destination for the British tourists. Numerous factors contribute in the growth of tourism
and those aspects, like, cultural heritage, economic condition, quality of tourism product and
services, infrastructure and natural tourist destinations and their preservation initiatives have
been investigated to understand their impact on the number of British tourist arrival in Bulgaria.
Bulgaria’s tourism was initiated by the end of 19th century with establishment of
Bulgaria’s Hiker’s Society in the year 1895 and building of the country’s first mountain lodges.
During the initial years of 20th century there were establishment of basic sanatoria and
recreational facilities for providing spa and balneotherapy procedures for the middle-class
workers (Ivanov and Dimitrova 2014). This trend was followed after 1944 when socialism had
been adopted as the key political ideology. The adoption of the Soviet model allowed tourism to
be managed and developed by the Balkantourist, the organization of the state tourist and the

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key provider of the subsidized holiday which was found in the year 1948. The first development
and planning of the mass facilities of tourist began during the latter part of 1950s and the early
part of 1960s (Stankova and Vassenska 2015). The strategy of the government relied on the
tourism as the key source of the foreign exchange. In this context, the first constructed resorts
have been Druzhba and Golden Sands which later came to be known as Helena and
Constantine respectively. Resorts were also constructed at Chaika and Sunny Beach on Black
Sea Cost and Borovets and Pamporovo in mountain areas (Holleran 2017). The recreational
villages that were created were designed for catering to domestic visitors also served as a low
budget destination for not only the Western Europeans but the tourist belonging to the other
countries of the Eastern Bloc thereby fulfilling need for the hard currency. This led to a dramatic
change in the tourism sector after fall of the communism in the year 1989 (Stanchev, Stancheva
and Young 2015). The transition from the state to the market economy resulted in financial
constraints and economic issues that led to massive decline in the funded holidays of the state.
The early 1990s witnessed the beginning of transition from centralized planning to a
market economy. The uncertainty and chaos created during period resulted in significant fall in
the total number of tourist arrival. During the 1998, the total number of leisure tourist on an
international scale reduced to 1.974 million from 2.161 million in the 1990s (Tribe 2015). In the
positive front, private investment made an entry into the tourism industry which led to the
establishment of small restaurant, hotels and the tour operators. The latter half of 1990s
remained characterized by the privatization of the tourist companies owned by the government
and the foreign investors within the sector followed by the huge domestic investment during first
the first half of the 21st century (Bethmann 2013). Thus, presently over 99 percent of this
industry seems to be run by the private companies. However, the development brought along
with its own problems. It led to over construction in seaside and the ski resorts which had been
accompanied by missing or limited infrastructure. Transportation had been issuing to the
development of this destination. Only three airports served the day to day international flights.
The highway ring being still under construction hindered the transportation of automobiles.
The bulk of leisure tourist came from countries of European Union that comprised of a
share of 79.17 percent (Cosgrove and Jackson 2015). The key markets for leisure tourist had
been Romania and Greece that accounted for 19.60 percent and 16 percent respectively.
Germany however contributed to about 11 percent of leisure tourist while UK contributed to a
smaller percentage of 9.44 percent. Tourist primarily came to Bulgaria for the purpose of

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vacation. The main tourist attractions had been the beaches, mountains areas and resorts and
the balneology and spa.
Trends that Make Bulgaria an Attractive Destination for British Tourists
The key trends of the tourism industry in Bulgaria has been the emergence of the
alternative types of tourism and promotion of country to the newer markets (Milev et al. 2014).
Alternative tourism can be referred to as the tourism form that is meant to remain consistent
with the social, natural and community values and that which allows both the guests and the
host to enjoy the positive and the worthwhile interaction along with shared experience. This
however emerged as the new tourism trend in past few years particularly for demonstrating
diversity of the tourism resources. Better weather conditions, lower travel cost and closer
proximity to the Western Europe has been the key reason for the development of a new form of
tourism catered around special interest (Boycheva 2017). There has been redevelopment of
Spa tourism that replaced old sanatoria with newer luxury hotels. The town of Sandanski,
Velingrad, Pomorie and Hisarya has been considered popular destinations for both the British
and the domestic tourist due to the offerings of various therapies and procedures. Rural tourism
has been considered another sector of development that combined the traditions and history of
the Bulgarian cuisine and folklore. British Tourists have mostly found accommodations in the
houses built around 19th century which provide them with the opportunity of spending time with
the host and thereby helping them in various household duties that varied from picking of
berries and herbs to milking the cow to preparing yogurt and making of pottery. Rural tourism
has gained popularity in Rhodopes area and is combined with the visits to the wine cellars.
Communist heritage tourism has been a popular phenomenon that included visit to the socialist
monument houses of the communist leader and Museum meant for Socialist Art located in
Sofia. Another vital trend has been the constant promotion of Bulgaria to the British tourist as a
year-round destination. The trend lies in the emergence of the new strategy of marketing in past
couple of years that emphasized on aspects of diversity as the tourism product. Bulgaria made
an appearance in various travel shows and exhibitions which not only promoted the cultural,
architectural and the religious heritage along with the spa and the wine facilities. Irrespective of
the efforts, Bulgaria has been found to be a favorite destination amongst the young travelers
who primarily look out for cheaper or inexpensive accommodation.
Climate Changes in Bulgaria