Bulgaria In The Steps Of Costa Del Golf

Bulgaria is experiencing a boom in golf course development as developers are trying to change its image from a seasonal tourist destination with cheap property and beer into a place of preference for the wealthy Europeans to spend their holiday.

Until recently compared to Spain, later re-discovered as a country for tourism and purchases of residential property at low prices, soon it will have another likeness with the Iberian country – golf tourism.

Currently there are only three golf courses in operation in Bulgaria. But at least five more are under construction and about twice as many are at design stage. The municipalities that usually own the consolidated land do not stop getting inquiries, in Razlog only there have been registered more than six proposals from developers, three of them are already launched projects.

When realized the region will be transformed into one of the possible golf destinations in Bulgaria. But before this there will be three already operating golf resorts on the Northern Black Sea coast between the towns of Kavarna and Balchik. There, Bulgarian developers and big western investors that enrolled names in golf and course design like Garry Player or Ian Woonsman are already advancing rapidly. The golf courses are expected to start operation at full speed at summer of 2009. Thus the Northern Black Sea coast took the road of the Spanish sea resorts.

“The resort of Costa Del Sol near Marbella was renamed to Costa del Golf. Within 100 km there are 60 golf courses where foreigners buy second home apartments”, says Radostina Paskova, in charge of golf clubs marketing of Air Sofia, the pioneer of this sport in Bulgaria.

Why Golf?

“Everyone can build a hotel on 5000 sq m and sell it. But I would not start building 800 residential units without something to attract the people to buy relying on their preferences for our Black Sea only. There are so many beautiful seas”, says Georgi Chuklev , vice-president of the Bulgarian Golf Association and manager of Barrage Complect. In partnership with the construction company Balkanstroy his company is developing on of the sea golf resorts and the first golf course in Razlog designed by IMG European Golf Design with the signatures of Ian Woosman.

The Prices

Golf is one more opportunity for the developers to build and to sell top quality real estate, which is not directly linked to the beach or the ski runs. When there is a combination of the two types they can close the cycle of tourist services. Currently golf resorts on the Black Sea and Razlog are offered at prices near the top levels for off-plan apartments and villas in the respective areas – about EUR 1,400 – 1,600 per sq m for holiday houses and apartments.

According to Georgi Chuklev they are not much higher than those of holiday apartments on the Black Sea coasts as they include value added tax and furnishing.

The Buyers

As of now the investors prevail over the end users of golf houses and apartments. Buyers, exactly as with the traditional holiday homes market, come mainly from western and northern Europe – English, Dutch and Scandinavians. Golf will be promoted in places like Germany, Netherlands, Spain and the Russian market, as Bulgarian golfers among buyers are few. There may be demand from the foreign community in Bulgaria as well.

“In our surveys we have specified three different types of clients: the golf player who does not buy on every golf course where he plays but rents an apartment or a hotel room; another important segment are the people willing to live in the golf complex as first or second home; the third is the small investor who buys in the golf complex to use his own apartment sometimes and the rest of the time to make profit”, says Manuel Ferry Sanchez, developer from Spain that came to Bulgaria wit the purpose of developing golf courses.


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