Tourism in Bulgaria: Management, Impact, and Marketing Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the tourism sector in Bulgaria. It begins with an introduction to tourism and its various components, followed by an in-depth examination of tourism management practices within the country. The report explores the economic impact of winter tourism, highlighting its significance to the Bulgarian economy. It also addresses the importance of environmental responsibility within the tourism industry. Furthermore, the report includes a case study of Hotel Palace Marina Dinevi, analyzing its marketing mix to identify strategies for success. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and recommendations, referencing relevant sources throughout. This report, contributed by a student, is available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools.

Tourism In Bulgaria

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Tourism management in Bulgaria...............................................................................................1
The impact of winter tourism on economy in Bulgaria..............................................................5
Environmental responsibility in the tourism industry.................................................................9
Hotel Palace Marina Dinevi - Marketing mix...........................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17
.......................................................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is a amalgamation of various things which includes transportation from one
place to another, accommodations, drinking and dinning and different services provided in
exchange of monetary value (Stankova and Vassenska, 2015). Tourism and travel is different as
in the first, one has to visit to another place with the use of transportation but in the other, person
could visit another place with their territory. For this report, Hotel Palace Marina Dinevi is taken
for discussion which is based in Bulgaria and owned by Dinevi group. In this report, tourism
management in the Bulgaria and how it assist them to perform sustainability will be explained by
taking functional example of country's tourism sector. Along with this, how winter tourism
affects Bulgaria will be discussed by critically analysing it. Apart from this, roles and
responsibility of tourism industry towards environmental will also elaborated. At last, marketing
mix on the chosen organisation will be don with the aim of identifying factors which could help
them to make their strategies.
MAIN BODY
Tourism management in Bulgaria
Tourism is defined as an activity of individual or a group of person in which they travel
to others places and stay outside that is different from their native places for completing their
different purposes such as business, summer vacations etc. Tourism is a complex part of
hospitality industry that provides encouragement to the service provider to determine the needs
and wants of customers and fulfils them accordingly. Main focus of this industry is to gave
satisfaction to the customers so that a good image of organisation can be build in the mindset of
customers. Apart from that, Tourism management is overseeing or inspection of all functions
which are related with tourism or hospitality sector. It is a field that prepares the people with a
common interest and wants to become a part of it. This sector also includes the organisations,
public authorities and enterprises which are providing tourism services to the potential travellers.
Bulgaria is a nation in which around of 7.5 million citizens are living in a size of 111000 sq.
metre. Tourism is a major element which provides huge employment and economic growth to
Bulgaria nation (Shishmanova, 2015). Some factors which defines that growth and sustainability
of this nation is depends on Tourism sector are given as below:
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 Tourism can be determined as the main sector of Bulgaria nation because according to a
survey report of tourism department, Bulgaria nation had 3776 accommodation in which
5.5 million guests have spend 733.5 mln euros for spending their stay period.
 There are around 138000 persons are engaged in hospitality sector who have generated
sales of 1.5 billion Euros in the year of 2009.
 It has been identified that contribution in the economic growth of 0.43% in the economy
of Bulgaria nation which is higher than other industries.
Therefore, it can be said that economic development of a nation is very much depends on
the hospitality sector.
Evolution of tourism sector in Bulgaria- main development of tourism industry in
Bulgaria country was started after the second world war by the council of Mutual economic
Assistance that was existed in the period of 1949-1991 (Stanchev, Stancheva and Young, 2015).
As the nation has wide coverage of mountains and seas therefore, committee has decided to
construct some resorts such as Druzhba or St. Constantine and helena on the north and south side
of sea. After 1989, tourism sector of Bulgaria nation has experienced some huge changes in the
structure of supply and demands. Private investment was started and a large number of hotels,
lodges, restaurants, tour operators were established. In second Half of 90s private industries of
hospitality sector has owned government resorts and tourist companies. As a result of 90s,
current tourism sector of around 99% is governed by private industries. Some tourism
management institution are also formulated over a time period for managing the tourism services
within the nation which can be more understood by some of the main points. That are given as
under:
Year Institution
1948 Balkantourist that have a duty to manage the tourist organisation of the nation.
1966 Central tourism administration was transformed into Tourism committee
1969 Rodinatourist is merged with Balkantourist
1993 Bulgarian Tourism and Leisure Association and Tourism committee was
established which have to manage road transport services for the tourism services.
1997 Tourism Committee was closed and its function are provided to the Ministry of
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Trade and Tourism(Bramwell and Lane, 2000).
1998 National tourism Council was established as a sub-division of Trade and Tourism
the main aim behind this is to united the representatives of different associations
of tourism sector like hotels, restaurants, Tour operators so that tax duties can be
taken from them in a proper manner.
2005 Ministry of Energy and Ministry of energy resources are merged to formulate
Ministry of economy and energy which has also responsibility to Managing the
tourism as well.
2009 Government department of Economy and energy was transformed into the
department of Economy, Energy and Tourism (Georgiev and et. al., 2003).
Current situation of tourism sector of Bulgaria- In current scenario, newly elected
government of Bulgaria nation has make various modifications which has influenced on the
planning and management of tourism sector such as State agencies of Tourism was closed and its
all responsibilities are transferred to the ministry of Economy and it is called MEET in which
three sectors are included like Department of policy formulation in tourism, Division of
categorisation and registration and Department of marketing and advertising who have
responsibilities to manage and control whole tourism activities of the country (Harrison and
Sharpley, 2017). There are also three level are designed by the government of Bulgaria such as
national which is governed by ministry of economy and handles all the functional activities of
tourism across the nation. At state level that have to followed or implement the policies of
tourism within the boundaries of state or municiple authorities have duty to maintain law of
conduct in the city.
Tourist organisations, Municipalities and local bodies have duty to maintain rules and
regulations which are formed by the national and regional authorities but if any changes are
required then they have authority to make and implement decision on their own level. Structure
of tourism activities can more understood by a structure which is defined as under:
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Illustration 1: Management structure of Bulgaria nation
Ministry of energy, economy and tourism is also provide supports to the national
authorities in formulation of strategies so that tourism development can be sustained and make
growth in a proper manner. Main strategic aims of these departments are defined as under:
 Providing enhancement to the growth of Tourism sector in Bulgaria nation
 Creating the position of country as a world recognisable place for tourism.
 Introducing international standard and innovation in tourism sector of nation so that a
brand image as a tourism destination can be developed in the world.
 Using promotional tools and marketing strategies so that it can be formulate as a
favourite destination in the mindset of travellers.
 Provide modern standard to the hospitality industries for saving the environment so that
beauty of destinations can be managed in proper manner.
Through implementing these strategies in tourism sector, a huge growth in the economy
of nation will be seems in a small period of time. For implementing these objectives
governmental authorities of country have to allocate resources of funds which can be gained
from the World tourist organisation, World bank etc.
Main features of Bulgaria nation - As tourism industry is rapidly growing industry in
the world and it is providing a huge contribution in the economic development of a nation
therefore it is very essential for every government to maintain destinations and tourists places so
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that better contributions can be received for the economic development from this sector
(Dimitrov and et. al., 2015). Some of the main factors which attracts a large number of tourist
towards the country are given as below:
 Sea/Sun/Sand- Sunny beach like nessebar, Obzor, riviera, Kavarna, Balchik are the main
beach of the nation which makes the brand image of country as a most favourite place in
the traveller's mind.
 Winter ski- In pamproovo, chepelare, Bansko etc. are the main places which are located
at the hills in the nation and providing a better support to the economy of the nation.
 Cruise- Varna and Nessebar are the main ports where the tourists can easily enjoy the sea
side and make their trip memorable.
It can be said that from the above informations that tourism management is very
important for a government of a specific nation because it provides huge contribution in the
economic development and also improves the standard of life of citizens who are living in the
country.
The impact of winter tourism on economy in Bulgaria
Tourism always plays an important role in the economy of country as various jobs are
generated which adds in the Gross domestic product of the country where it is situated. There are
various variable through which tourism sector earns like visitor expenditure in the hotels and
local business, booking of vehicles to travel, imported goods, outbound and inbound expenditure
etc.
Republic of Bulgaria or Bulgaria is based on the south east side of the Europe and has
bordered with Romania, Serbia, Greece, turkey etc. It is one of the least populated country in the
Europe which makes it more attracting place for tourist. There are two ways through which
tourism sector assist the economy of country i.e., direct and indirect contribution. Direct includes
accommodations, transportations, entertainment, retail trade, food and beverages services, sports
activities etc. On the other hand, indirect contribution includes, purchases of suppliers due to
demand of customer, government spending on T&T etc (Boycheva, 2017). Collection of both
these provide output through increase of job employment and GDP of the country.
 In 2017, Bulgaria has seen more than 8,882 million tourist from all over world due to
which economic conditions of the country is also enhancing to a certain level. In 2016,
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Bulgaria tourism has contributed 12.8% of GDP which implies that tourism sector plays
an important factor in the economic conditions of the country.
Illustration 2: Tourism as a growth driver
Source: Tourism as a growth driver, 2019
 It will help the country and local authorities to enhance the living conditions of people
living there by opening of necessities requirements for people. For instance, if
government is planning to open a new tourist destination place in their territory then it
would automatically increase job in the country which would count as a positive growth
in the future.
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Source: BULGARIA:TOTAL CONTRIBUTION OF TRAVEL & TOURISM TO GDP, 2018
 According to the survey done by the government, Tourism sector will induce 335,500
jobs in 2017 and expected to grow with the steady rate only. So it can be seen that GDP
of Bulgaria will increase due to increase in employment. On the other hand, expected
employment will reduce to 1.8% in 2018 because government is planning to bring some
restrictions in the tourism sector so that uniqueness of the country wont get evaporated
due to high number of footfalls.
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Illustration 3: BULGARIA:TOTAL CONTRIBUTION OF TRAVEL &
TOURISM TO GDP

Illustration 4: Tourism to employment
Source: Tourism to employment, 2018
 There is a positive impact of tourism on people living there, as their disposable income
will increase resulting in better circulation of currency in the market. For instance, if a
shop owner revenue increase due to increase in tourist footfalls then their profitability
over time will also increase resulting in better disposable income.
 Bulgaria government charges 20% tax in the tourism industry due to which collection of
money is increasing. This money is used by local authorities to develop the infrastructure
like roads, airports etc which will persuade to better transportation within and outside the
country. This thing will attract foreign companies to operate their business with the aim
of earning profitability. For instance, in 2013, collective tax of accommodation is 7.45
million euros which is paid to the municipal tourist tax which directly contributed in the
budget of developing of sites like Nessebar, Bansko, Black sea coast etc (Deaconu and
MOCANU, 2016).
 Foreign direct investment in Bulgaria is increasing due to vast scope of profitability from
tourist that's why many big hotels chain like Holiday Inn, Ramada, IHG intercontinental
have opened their chain in the most crowded places. Apart from this, companies like
Marriott and Hyatt are also planning to launch their business in next two years. It implies
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that economic conditions of the country is enhancing slowly but steadily. In the recent
time, Sofia city of Bulgaria has hosted event for the presidency of the EU commission
which runs from January to June 2018. It increases country awareness in the mind of
customers from all over world. So the future economic conditions of the country will
only increase.
 Due to increase of tourist frequency in Bulgaria, service sector is increasing with a great
rate as more airline, airports, transportation etc is growing. For instance, TUI airlines
offerers 41 flights to Bugas and Warna every week so it would be easy to estimate the
number of visitors coming in the country (TUI has a close partnership with Bulgaria,
2019) Apart from this, increase in number of hotels is directly proportionate to increase
in number of jobs in the hotel industry.
 High tourism will persuade to higher foreign currency deposit in the country which is
favourable sign for their currency evaluation as compare to other countries. For instance,
if any tourist who is coming from Italy to visit the Bulgaria then they have to exchange
their local currency with the currency of Bulgaria so that they can spend in their travel.
The currency of Italy can be used by the government to pay the import bills to the same
so that they does not have to pay extra.
Environmental responsibility in the tourism industry
Travel and tourism sector has constantly assist country to increase their economic
conditions as compare to other countries but on the other side it has severe impact on the
environmental conditions of the country. Before explaining the responsibility of the company
and tourist towards environmental, there are various negative aspects of it which are explained
below,
 Increase in usage of transport: Tourist are those individual who uses some sort of
transportation to displace their current place to future with the aim of exploration of new
country or place (Costea, Hapenciuc and Arionesei, 2016). So if large number of tourist
are coming to Bulgaria then it also means that usage of transportation within the country
also increases to a certain level. This phenomenon will leads to increase in pollution
which emits from the vehicle used. Pollution affects the country in a negative way as it it
decreases tourist frequency in the future, people living their attacks by various fatal
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