Balneology in Bulgaria: unused opportunities

19.07.2008

 While developers and real estate agents cross Europe, from Ireland to Kazakhstan and from Spain to Finland, in search of buyers for the thousands of holiday properties on the market in Bulgarian seaside and mountain resorts, many of them remain blind for the potential of our country as a tourist destination providing thermal waters, curative climate and additional services.
It was not until several years ago that hotel managers started to develop, build and extend SPA centers at their properties. A number of developers have now turned their faces towards mountains in the hope to attract tourists and real estate buyers by means of providing modern ski runs and lifts. However, there are just a few of them who try to sell natural resources such as thermal waters and climate mostly in the most popular resorts of Bulgaria - Sandanski, Velingrad and Hisarya.
Meanwhile,

Bulgaria has the unique opportunity
to become an international SPA destination due to the fact that it has over 520 thermal springs with different water compositions and ranks second (after Iceland), experts say.
"In fact, Bulgaria offers unique thermal waters and is among the top European countries with the greatest number of mineral resources per capita," says Dr. Silvia Paskaleva, the General Manager of the Lozenets Health and Sports complex at the Council of Ministers and a consultant of a number of projects for new balneology and SPA centers.
However, this potential has barely been used. Most of the existing facilities have aged and, with some exceptions, no one struggles to use mineral waters to attract foreign tourists. There are many reasons that explain this: firstly, nearly nobody abroad knows Bulgaria as a SPA destination and demand is mostly on the part of local tourists; secondly, the level of investment has been low for a long time as a result of which the facilities appear to be in poor conditions, and last but not least - poor access to many resorts due to infrastructure proves to be another setback.
In addition, investments in SPA are significant - up to millions of euros although they depend on the area and the particular type of scheme (balneology, SPA or wellness), the variety of services and equipment. Smaller projects like some of the family hotels or residential complexes along the Black Sea coast or in Bansko would find it too expensive to develop SPA centers.
However, they are beneficial for both hotel operators and property owners of balneology and SPA complexes as these projects provide a year-round occupancy and additional revenues. On one hand, investments in equipment and its maintenance are redeemed through the cost of stays and higher turnovers of year-round operating developments, and on the other hand - treatment procedures, which need human resources, may have additional incomes as they attract well-off tourists.

Balneology, SPA or wellness
There are mainly two streams in developing special projects depending on the purpose of tourist visits. Balneology is mostly about treatment, prophylaxis and prevention of disorders, while the target of SPA and wellness services is to offer recreational options and anti-stress treatments. In the first case patients are treated, while in the second one - they are relaxed. Wellness services except SPA and other procedures also include healthy food and sports.
There is one mandatory element in balneology - the natural resource like thermal waters or medicinal mud for example. Balneology centers also must meet certain standards for size, equipment and staff, which are under the control of the Ministry of Health.
There are no strict requirements for SPA centers or must-have medicinal resources like thermal water. Nevertheless, technologists and consultants at SPA schemes follow certain rules.
"SPA centers feature no specifications. We are partly grounded on our home sanatoria", says arch. Rumyana Tiholova, General Manager of Intoarch, a specialized architecture bureau for the design of SPAs.
She adds that there are a few basic starting points in the development of SPAs. For example, there are two types of saunas - dry and wet - which may be transformed into various subtypes - Finnish, Russian and Herbal etc. Mrs. Tiholova assumes SPA centers must feature sports halls with fitness and swimming pools, relax and treatment rooms.
Investing in SPA centers could be costly. One of the recently completed projects of arch. Tiholova costs approximately EUR 1m.
"It is important to think of it from the very beginning", she says, "and carefully design the disposition of rooms." That is why, she advises investors to plan SPA centers with the special help of consultants even at the very first stages of projects so that to avoid mistakes and flaws and thus unnecessary expenses.

SPA real estate market yet to take off
The real estate market in balneology resorts is yet emerging with the attempts of the first developers to create competitive product.
According to Dimitar Zhdrakov, General Manager of Sirona Property Management, a company specialized in the management of luxury residential and hotel balneology complexes, the buyers answer episodically to "non-orientated supply" in balneology resorts. But his forecast is that in the next five years the development of such complexes will be booming.
"Let’s not forget that the regions related to balneology and SPA tourism are not seasonal tourism destinations but year-round resorts, which is a prerequisite for the buyers themselves to enjoy the product they have bought for year-round use," he says.
"It is too early to talk of differentiated real estate market in the different SPA resorts. This is still an underdeveloped niche, at least as far as the real SPA destinations in Bulgaria are concerned," confirms Daniela Ilieva-Koleva, of the development company behind the Green City Velingrad project. "The crucial factors for the decisions of clients to buy holiday homes in a given SPA resort are the infrastructure and whether the homes are situated within complexes with a wide range of services", she adds.

Source : indeximoti.com