At least five large complexes will open on the Black Sea coast this year.
New hotels, new niches, new faces. Despite the expectations for a decline in the season on the Black Sea coast, there will be a wave of completed multi-million investment in 2019. At least five large 4 and 5 star hotels are expected to be opened in the most popular resorts like Sunny Beach, Golden Sands, Obzor and others. This will further strengthen competition in the most attractive niche where competitors are trying to attract foreign and Bulgarian tourists with a higher holiday budget.
Hotels will work with major tour operators, and most will be part of popular international and local chains.
Better sales and loose lending have brought a lot of changes in sea tourism over the past 2-3 years. Many hotel owners renovated their facilities, ownership of some sites changed, and in different resorts such as Albena, Sozopol and St. St. Constantine and Elena, for example, opened new objects. 2019, however, will be the one that will complete the biggest investments in the last few years.
One of the biggest sites will be the Wave Resort complex, which is 500 meters away from Aheloy Camping. The total investment is EUR 30 million. The complex will have 425 rooms, 14 swimming pools, several restaurants and large conference and spa centers. The construction is advanced and it should be opened at the beginning of the season, announced the co-owner of the company Aheloy Project Ventzislav Tanchev. Tanchev is a representative for Bulgaria of the German tour operator Alltours and several other companies in Central Europe, and has partnered with the Alltours for Turkey representative Emre Yunsev, who runs two hotels in the Antalya region, but for the first time invests in the Bulgarian coast.
The new Wave Resort will work on the all inclusive formula during the active season, trying to extend the season through conference and spa tourism, similar to other large hoteliers in the Pomorie area, which is why they are building big facilities for them. Currently, a double room at Wave Resort in early August is available at prices between 380 and 410 leva in different platforms.
In the area of Sunny Beach this year will open another new big object. This is the five-star RIU Palace Sunny Beach, the Valentina Zlatev Terra Tour service, connected to the president of Lukoil Bulgaria. This is the second hotel of the same company under that brand in this place. Next to the hotel, under the international brand RIU-RIU Helios Paradise, in the place of the former pulmonary sanatorium between Sunny Beach and Sveti Vlas, was opened in 2015 after an investment of 100 million BGN.
The new beachfront hotel will have over 330 rooms and suites, outdoor and indoor swimming pools, several restaurants, a spa, sports facilities. The investment in it is 56 million leva, announced the manager of "Terra Tour service" Lachezar Todorov. The different at RIU Palace Sunny Beach is that it will be one of the very few hotels on the Black Sea coast that will be positioned in the growing niche for adult hotels in the last years - only guests who are 18 years old will be accepted. The only other, bigger object on the Black Sea coast that operates on this principle is Grifid Metropol in Golden Sands, part of the Grifid chain of Grigor Fidanov. It accommodates guests from 16 years of age. Lachezar Todorov commented that the niche with adult hotels is the second most popular one after the family holidays, where the neighboring hotel of the company - RIU Helios Paradise is positioned.
This model is expected to work in another hotel in Sunny Beach, but in its southern part. It's about the Cook's Club Sunny Beach, a part of Thomas Cook's new circuit, which started last year. This will accommodate guests aged 16 and over. The hotel is the current "Aronia Beach", also known by its old name "Delta Beach", part of the "Chimimport" "St. St. Constantine and Helena Holding ". However, in response to questions from the company, they said that "the hotel is not part of the company's portfolio" in the upcoming season. So it is not clear whether there is a deal and who will be responsible for managing the hotel. According to Thomas Cook's announcement, the new Cook's club Sunny Beach will be refurbished for summer 2019.
To the north of Sunny Beach are to be launched other large sites. An entirely new complex will be built in the nearby Obzor, which will be part of Hristo Asenov's HVD chain (known in the past as close to Iliya Pavlov and Georgi Iliev of VIS). The new site will be located next to another hotel - "Miramar" Hotel. Outside Obzor Asenov has hotels in Sunny Beach and Golden Sands.
The new complex, which after completion should have more than 500 rooms, according to information on the company's website, will include more pools and several restaurants. Expectations in the tourism sector are that a part of the future large complex will be opened this year, and offers for holidays at the Miramar Delux Hotel for summer 2019 through various tour operators.
2019 will be the first one in which the RIU Astoria complex in Golden Sands, which is located at the site of the former Hotel Astoria, which was demolished in 2017 and its neighboring terrain, will be fully operational. The complex consists of two buildings with six and 11 floors and has 530 rooms, several restaurants, swimming pools and more. The investment is of Veliko Jelev, owner of one of the biggest construction companies - Hydrostroy (which bought "Vodstroy 98") and the Varna businessman Milen Raykov.
Source: Caiptal
