Bulgaria, twice the fun half the price
The picture above was taken a few weeks ago when me and some volunteers went hiking in the mountains in Bratsigovo.
Today I went with my counterpart and an architect to a neigboring village in the municipality. My city is trying to attract investors to build a Golf course. Shhh.....! It's a secret. They are also supposed to build a small ski and snowboard park this winter. That would be cool if they do. Then I won't have to go so far if I just want to do a little snowboarding one day.
Since I am a marketing major, my counterpart has been asking me what ideas I have about attracting tourists from the United States. They want American tourists to come here as opposed to Greece, Italy, Spain, and the like. Have any ideas? Please share.
posted by Matthew Wahlgren @ 11/11/2004 04:30:00 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
josh again, this is really cool but I noticed no ideas yet. Ask what Americans want. Safety and convience. Are there working facilities such as taxis and car rentals? Any American style hotels? Has McDonalds or Planet Hollywood moved in yet, most importantly is there a Wal Mart? Just kidding about that last one but look at the accomodations and you will be able to tell if you can sell to America. A golf course is good but will the same comforts be offered?
Thanks for the comment. Bulgaria has all the things you mentioned. Not in every town, but in the major cities. When I was in the Capitol city (sofia) I almost got ran over by a KFC truck. I felt at home for a couple seconds.
The security issues are a good point. The problem I have is that I am not really working for Bulgaria, I am working for the Bratsigovo Municipaliy. I am not coming up with a plan to attract tourists to the whole country, but rather just my area. I figure I have to sell Bratsigovo to tourists within the nation tourism plan. I have to say that Bratsigovo is a must see destination if you are planning to come to Bulgaria.
If we do develop a golf course and/or a ski resort than it might be easier to sell Bratsigovo to those who are not planning to travel the whole country because we would be working in conjunction with these entertainment facilities. But right now I see Brastigovo as a place that a tourist might want to stop in for a couple of days, not build there whole vacation around it.
ski/boarding is cool but how can you compete with the bigger international resorts - i think eco tourism is a good bet to attract USA/UK people, perhaps marked hiking or mountainbiking trails with mountain lodges - if you invested in a gondola/ski chair then it could also be utilised in summer for down hill mountain biking. do not go the KFC/bigmac route - people go on holiday for authenticity and change. one thing many people mention to me is that there are a lot of ugly concrete buildings in bg (?!) rgds, stu
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