Bansko opens 11th December 2010

[TheTravelBug]

The Sofia Echo - November 10th 2010

The new skiing season in Bulgaria's top mountain resort of Bansko will be launched on December 11 2010 with a parallel slalom event featuring eight former ski legends, Bulgarian media reported.

The Legends Race, as the event is called, will host Marc Girardeli, Luke Alphand, Andreas Wenzel, Maria Valizer, Leopold Stock, Josef Strobl, Michael Von Groningen and Bulgaria's best ever alpine skier, 1977 European champion Petar Popangelov.

The event is scheduled for 12.30am at the Alberto Tomba slope.

To complement the race, the town hall has booked several performers from Bulgaria's Music Idol TV show, while in the central square in Bansko, local officials will be awarded with the prize "Bansko – winter capital of the Balkans", Dnevnik daily reported.

[TheTravelBug]

And Sofia Echo reported that tourist numbers are expected to rise a little as people come to Bulgaria from Greece, Romania, Macedonia etc. And with the new Ryan Air route t Plovdiv, there will be more visitors from the UK.

Sofia Echo:

Bulgarian winter tourism is expected to emerge from the economic crisis this season with an ever increasing numbers of tourists from neighbouring countries, who prefer to visit Bulgarian ski resorts rather than their own.

Bulgarian winter resorts are widely regarded as the most advanced, and best in southeastern Europe.

Greeks, Serbs, Romanians, Macedonians and Albanians are expected to flock here over the winter season along with Bulgarian tourists drawn by the "busy winter calendar" and the improvement of infrastructure and the installation of new facilities, Dnevnik daily reported.

Greek tourists living in northern Greece will be further facilitated by the new border crossing point between Bulgaria and Greece and Zlatograd which means that access to Pamporovo has been made significantly faster and easier.

Three of the four major Bulgarian resorts – Bansko, Pamporovo and Borovets – have invested in new infrastructure, new equipment, new facilities and have expanded their pistes, which will also draw more tourists, the report said.

Direct flights from London to Bulgaria's second largest city of Plovdiv will also contribute to a larger tourist traffic bound for Pamporovo, tourist experts said.