„Ultimul” hotel din Albena - info albena

20
ALBENA MAGAZINE SEPTEMBRIE 2009
The favorite destination of Romanians
One of the favorite seaside
destinations for Romanian tourists is
Bulgaria, a country that has proven
that you can achieve high standards
and be well promoted, so that in a few
years you can be internationally
reknown. Albena is a testimony to this
progress, as the number of tourists that
have visited the resort has grown up to
30% per year, for the last few years.
-Alina, what is the secret behind
the Bulgarian seaside resorts?
-I can say that the Romanians appreciate
the large beaches, as it is 2 km long, and
150 m wide. The sand is fine and well
maintained. The tourists feel at home here,
the food here being very similar to the one
at home, as this was Romanian territory
not so very long ago. The quality of
service is very good and the people are
welcoming. The ones that come here, are
the ones that came a few years ago. They
came, they saw, they liked it, they came
back and recommended it to their friends
and relatives.
-Statistically speaking, which is the
percentage of Romanian tourists
in Albena?
-In 2004 there were 1780 Romanian
tourists, and last year for example there
have been 52500. So in just four years,
the number has significantly grown, a real
boom.
-What do you believe was the
reason for this boom?
-Exactly what I said before, they felt good,
they felt very good, they received good
services, excellent accommodations, they
had a great vacation.
-Last year, what was the
repartition of tourists, according
to nationality?
-Of course, the Bulgarians were the most,
about 27-29%, second most being the
Romanians with 25%. In 2007 they were
just 11%. After them, last year there were
the German and French tourists, and the
ones coming from Russia who
represented 9%. There were also English,
Scandinavian Belgian and Dutch tourists
and other people coming from Eastern
Europe account for the rest.
-How do you explain the fact that
the Romanian market has become
so important?
Interview with Alina Balaci, Albena Sales Manager for the Romanian market
-A few years ago the French and German
markets were very strong, but they lost
ground due to a series of reasons, one of
them being the saturation, as it grew too
much and stagnated. Another reason is
the economic crisis that has affected many
strong economies.
-What impact did the economic
crisis have on the tourism in
Albena?
-The other markets, like France and
Germany were affected, but the market I
look after, Romania is going well because
of the crisis. The explanation is simple, the
average Romanian will not choose long
and expensive vacation trips, due to the
crisis. The advantage of Bulgaria
compared to other destinations is the short
distance from Romania. One of the
people who want to come here is bound
to have a car which he can use. The
distance between Bucharest and Albena is
260 km. It is a 4 hour drive that can be
done without much effort.
-ANAT estimated a growth of
10% compared to last year, how
do you comment on this?
-It could be so, but I believe the market will
be last-minute. Rooms will be booked two
or three days in advance, because there
will not be reservations like in the last
years, one, two, or even three months in
advance, due to the crisis and the
uncertainty of the future. Now tourists
think carefully when they have some extra
money and want to leave in a vacation. I
have the money, I can go and have a
good time in Bulgaria, and I just have to
hop into my car and go. So there will not
be many advanced reservations. That is
why I say the Romanian market this year
will be a last-minute one. And anyway,
Bulgaria is a good and cheap alternative,
compared to other destinations. We have
to take into consideration that we are only
60 km away from Vama Veche,
practically the same area.
-What do you think about the
German investments in the
Bulgarian seaside resorts?
-This is more of a legend; they were not
the ones who started building the
Bulgarian tourism. It is true that they have
invested a lot in promotional activities,
they created the presentation brochures,
and they printed and distributed them and
invested a lot in the charter planes. It is
clear that their actions were successful, but
they risked a lot. What they did was to
create an impulse, which the Bulgarians
continued and improved. To support this
idea, the board of director is composed
entirely of Bulgarians. Last year, new
restaurants have been opened near the
Flamingo Grand Hotel. One of them,
Havana, is a traditional Cubanese
restaurant, where 5 Cubanese singers
have played every night, this being a real
tourist attraction. A nightclub has been
opened at the basement of the same hotel
this year. It is a disco-bar and it was
opened 2-3 months ago.We are trying to
bring something new every year so that
tourists will find new attractions every time
they come back.
-Which are the tourist sites that
can be found in the area?
-The closest tourist attraction is Regina
Maria’s Castle at Balchik along with the
botanical garden that surrounds it.You
can get there quickly as it is only 12 km
away from Albena. Then you can visit
Cape Kaliakra, along with the ruins of the
old fortress. Here there is a cave where
you can find a museum that has a replica
of the original fortress. There is even a
terrace where you can serve a meal. This
area is known as the ’Silver Coast’, name
given by the ancient Greeks and used by
Queen Mary. It was named so because
at sunset, the limestone cliffs of Cape
Kaliakra looked like silver.