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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Organized vs. Individual Tourism in BulgariaThe Devil Is In The Details© 2001, IRED.Com, Inc., Simeon Mitropolitski
Many foreigners prefer to visit Bulgaria and the other former communist countries in Eastern Europe in groups of 20-40 persons, i.e. being "organized'. This way they think they can avoid many problems on the ground, e.g. losing themselves in an unknown country, having trouble with corrupt state officials etc. Having in mind that the golden rule of any tourist around the world should be "Pay less, take as much as possible", I tried this summer to figure out what is more profitable for him or her - being organized or go individual way. What means to be an "organized" foreign tourist in Bulgaria? First of all that means that you arrive at he Black Sea coastal cities like Varna or Bourgas with charted flight. Then you are transferred to a hotel in one of the many resorts along the coast. There you stay for couple of week enjoying the life before being transferred back to the airport, then home. You are organized which means that you have not only to follow the group in many occasions (breakfasts, dinners, transport etc.) but also that your time doesn't belong really to you. As you can see, from the organizational point of view this system looks fine for the tourists' wallets but as you will see the devil is in the details. Let's imagine for a moment that I'm an "organized" German or British or American tourist going in vacation for 2 weeks in the Sunny Day or Albena resort (some 10-20 miles form Varna). I have paid in Germany in advance my 14 nights as well as all the breakfasts and dinners that will be served at the so-called Swedish table (smorgasbord)*. But I still have to pay cash at least for the lunches. You'll say that it's not a big deal, maybe $6-7 for a meal. Here comes the first problem. As a German tourist I was told by the tourist agency that the exchange rate between the German mark and the Bulgarian leva is 1 to 1. But after the first lunch the waiter took from me more than the price indicated at the menu. He explains to me that the difference comes from the exchange rate commission. Of course I'm not happy about that and decide to take leva from some ATM. Surprisingly (as a Bulgarian I know there is a reason behind every unpleasant surprise) at Sunny Day and Albena there aren't many ATMs. If you try hard and find some, you probably will find out that they already have run out of money (leva). At this point as a German (remember that I'm playing the role of an organized German tourist) I start to think about the difference between the empty ATM and the missing ATM. This philosophical thought doesn't resolve my problem where to find leva to pay my lunches. But there is a settlement for this - tens of exchange bureaus, everywhere. Do you smell already something wrong? No ATMs but plenty of exchange bureaus? You have any reason to expect something wrong because the difference between the "sell" and "buy" rate at these bureaus is 7-8 percent (compared to less than 1 percent in Sofia). Let's see what is the price for the "organized" tourists from this "small" detail - the lack of working ATMs at the Bulgarian Black Sea resorts? The price is 7-8 percent of every lunch coasting in average $7, i.e. $0.50. For the whole 2-week vacation it's $7. You'll say that this isn't a big deal but wait a second. This year alone Bulgaria will have more than 1 million foreign tourists. More than half of them are organized. Thus this lack of ATMs means at least $3,5 million made from nothing, no goods or services, simply from no-market exchange rate commissions. These $3,5 million are only the top of the iceberg. If you already suppose that there is a lot more beneath the surface you're absolutely right. Being organized means that you can't choose where to go to take your breakfasts or dinners. Tourists from Germany are paying $4 for a breakfast and $7 for a single dinner at the so-called Swedish tables. Exactly the same kind of buffets in other "non-organized" hotels may costs half that price - $2 and $3,5 respectively. So the average organized German is paying every day $11 for breakfast and dinner instead of $5,5 for the individual tourists. Another brief calculation - 300 000 German this year are expected to visit Bulgaria, 80 percent of them are organized, they stay 2 weeks in average. So while eating they are "loosing" about $20 million more than they should be if they have chosen to be individual tourists like me and my family did this year. From a certain point of view this seems like a big injustice - tourists pay more simply because they don't know that they may pay much less. This also harms Bulgarian tourist industry because more expensive services mean fewer tourists. But from a different point of view we have to understand that these "organized" tourists or at least many of them simply won't come to Bulgaria without this more expensive option. With its bad image of being a criminal country with corrupted administration Bulgaria deserves what it has. 80 percent "organized" tourists from Germany means that 80 percent trust German tourist agencies and only 20 percent trust Bulgarian state when it comes to the crime prevention, guaranteeing the quality of the tourists amenities etc. So these tourists are ready to pay more in order to stay in the shadow of the real life in Bulgaria. The organized foreign tourists also know that they can at any moment claim their money back if something doesn't match the catalogue with the amenities and services they see when they sign the contract. Unfortunately during my individual vacation I didn't have such privilege. The result was that I was denied the radio and TV and working fridge. My room regularly was cut from the power grid and the water wasn't a constant amenity too. I paid for my vacation much less than the organized tourists but for sure I didn't receive the same quality of services they did. As you see, the devil is in the details. ------ * - smorgasbord. It's like a buffet, you choose among large variety of meals what to eat and serve yourself, and there are no limits in the quantity. --------------------
See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Bulgaria.
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