Stefan Sharlopov, owner of Sharlopov Hotels: We have to be creative in the time of crisis

Is there a crisis? Yes, there is and there will be some serious shifts in layers. We have to get ready for it and be creative in this situation.
The tourism industry is still seeing some momentum, but it also shows some understanding that the direction should be changed. Bulgaria as a tourist destination used to be associated with sea and mountain. This is not a comprehensive understanding for the tourism product. The Union of Bulgarian Tourism Industry and the Bulgarian Union for Balneology and Spa Tourism through the state tourism agency have offered a concept for complimenting the tourism product with the popularization of balneology, spa and wellness, history, ethnography, cultural heritage, wine, religion. These are all things that we have, but have not used them properly. 
I believe there have been too many accidental players in the sectors of construction, real estate, hotel management. The crisis will sift serious from non-serious players. The serious ones will definitely survive and might even come out stronger of the turbulence. Unreliable ones will find it much harder to survive. The bad thing is that a lot of energy and money have been put in things that do not add value.
At any rate, the whole process will need some help from the government. So far the state has allocated BGN 6 million to the Tourism Agency to cover its own expenses and the national tourism promotion. This is ridiculous when the advertising budget in Turkey is EUR 150 million, of Greece - EUR 128 million, and of Croatia – EUR 120 million. It’s impossible for Bulgaria to promote even its traditional tourism product using the mere EUR 3 million.
Last but not least, I don’t know how many years have to pass for a government to state infrastructure is its priority. We have a lot to show to the world and we must provide the proper access and services in order to be able to protect the multi-billion investments that have flown into the tourism industry.

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