New Accommodation Figures For Sofia 2014

The release of updated statistics for tourist accommodation in Bulgaria has been announced by the National Agency of Tourism and should boost Sofia’s bid for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

The statistics show a much greater number of hotel rooms and apartments are available than was previously reported.

Mario Al Djeburi, President of the National Agency of Tourism for Bulgaria, told a Bulgarian newspaper that when he became president of the tourism agency he realized that the official figures provided to Sofia 2014 were not up to date. “We have undertaken a review of the hotel and apartment inventory to ensure that the statistics now reflect the rapid pace of hotel and apartment development throughout Sofia and in our two major winter tourist destinations”, he said.

The revised figures show that within the proposed venues of Sofia, Borovetz and Bansko there are hotels and apartments with just over 36,000 beds. The new figures are significantly greater than those provided by the agency in the Sofia 2014 bid documents. The new figures include about 19,200 beds in Sofia, 9,100 beds in Bansko and 7,700 beds in Borovets.

The previous records did not include accommodations that were are different stages of the classification process, including facilities that were in the process of application for classification, those with temporary certification, and those whose classification had expired and needed to be re-evaluated and classified.

Sofia 2014 reports that the increase in tourism, especially in the winter resort areas, will see significantly more rooms and apartments added in the next five years.