Bulgaria skiing. Bulgarian beach

15.01.2008

Bulgaria combines great beaches and top-class skiing with that
all-important factor: affordability.

So has this young EU member become a holiday hotspot?

Fears of a credit crunch don't worry buyers much in Bulgaria at the moment. In the second half of 2007, Knight Frank's global house price index found that Bulgaria recorded the second-highest price increase (pipped to the post only by Latvia), with prices jumping by 27.1 per cent.

British Developments has recorded increases of up to 57 per cent over the past years in popular resorts such as the coast's Sunny Beach, where early buyers are cashing in on their investment. Some 40,000 Brits now own a home in Bulgaria, drawn by some of the lowest property prices in the European Union and rock-bottom living costs, where a litre of draught beer costs less than 50p and a meal for four with drinks costs less than £20.

A NEW KIND OF BUYER

The low cost of living is also attracting a wave of retirees to Bulgaria, who are hoping to make their pension stretch far further than the UK allows. Although it may be several years before Bulgaria becomes an established retirement destination, the rest of the EU is catching on, with a German weekly paper recently running the headline: "Croatia, Bulgaria and Turkey: warm and cheap". But whereas UK retirees are attracted to the rolling countryside, German buyers have their eye on the sunny coastal resorts.

The most popular spots in Bulgaria are on the Black Sea coast and high up in the Rila mountains, where Olympic-class skiing facilities can be enjoyed at fantastically low prices. The country is seeing steady increases in the amount of visitors, with the State Tourist Agency recording more than 4.5 million foreign visitors in the first nine months of 2007, more than a seven per cent increase from last year's figures.

SOME 40,000 BRITS NOW OWN A HOME IN BULGARIA

This is already starting to have an impact for 2008's season; Elena Ivanova, chairperson of the Owners' Union in the resort has revealed that almost the entire hotel base in Bulgaria's largest beach resort, Sunny Beach, is already negotiated for the next season. Meanwhile, Europe's skiers are getting ready to welcome 2008 in traditional Bulgarian style. Half of the New Year's packages for Bulgaria's winter resorts have already been booked, says the Bulgarian Tourist Chamber, and most of the foreign tourists will be Brits, followed by Russians and Germans. The Tourist Chamber also predicted that as in 2007's winter season, the most popular resort would probably continue to be Bansko, but the number of tourists in Pamporovo and Borovets was also expected to rise.

There are plans to invest up to €280,000 of EU money in projects that will develop Bansko's appeal to tourists and buyers, including upgrading the road system to smaller villages and restoring an ancient church. So it would seem that the Bulgarian boom is far from over just yet, and while property prices are low compared to the rocketing costs in the UK the country is unlikely to lose its appeal to British buyers.

WHY BULGARIA?

Ski or sun, and plenty in store for this new EU country