"We need at least 100 charter flights a day," says Plamen Kopchev, head of the hotel owners' association in Bulgaria's mammoth Black Sea resort of Sunny Beach, laid waste by the coronavirus pandemic.
Initially, Bulgaria managed to control its infection numbers but after easing its lockdown comparatively early, it has found itself in the midst of a fresh spike. Rows and rows of sunbeds and umbrellas lie empty while hawkers selling inflatable flamingos and other beach must-haves wait idly by. In addition, the tourism ministry decided to subsidize charter flights and allow in tourists with a negative virus PCR test from several neighboring non-EU countries, as well as from Israel and Kuwait.Figures from Burgas airport, which services Sunny Beach, show a 98% drop in charter flights in June, followed by 87% in July when fewer than 400 out of an expected 2,800 planes arrived.
Last year, 9.3 million foreign tourists visited Bulgaria and the government had hoped for an increase this year.The crisis may be hitting the economy but some say there may be some positives to take from it, especially those who have long been advocating a rethink of Bulgaria's tourism model and the construction boom it has helped fuel.
In theory, construction is banned within 100 meters of the seashore outside urban areas, but Vateva points to various loopholes that need closing in the legislation.