Fans of all-inclusive services can remain calm because, despite the anti-epidemic measures, they will still be able to dispose of and enjoy all the extras in hotels which offer such services on the Bulgarian Black sea coast. Safety is guaranteed and the clients are satisfied wherever people, instead of profit, are prioritized. Some of the hotels and beaches remain empty, but not in Primorsko, a place loved by many Bulgarians. Of course, there is a difference in how guests are now welcomed –first, their temperature is measured and health status declarations have to be filled in, but afterwards everything goes back to normal.

“For this season, our employees’ safety is of utmost importance to us,” says Tsvetelina Zlatkova, CEO of one of the biggest chained-branded hotels on the Black sea coast. “We have provided our employees with gloves, masks and glasses. We have put plexiglass barriers and prevention instructions everywhere. The situation in restaurants is the same. We work with the All-inclusive system. All guests are serviced by the personnel behind pandemic res. We try to keep the service quality as high as it has been until now. But that is the hardest task since every guest should have at least one person at his or her service. So far, we have managed and I believe we are getting good results. Apart from this, all rooms are disinfected with a special machine after each stay. All surfaces are processed through nanotechnology so that they do not retain pathogens and our visitors can feel more secured. The hotels of the chain are occupied at 70% capacity, in accordance with the Ministry of Tourism’s instructions.”

In addition to safety, the warm attitude of the staff and the quality cuisine are what attracts the tourists. “Our restaurant has won first place for the best quality food and service in the whole TUI France brand chain worldwide for the third year in a row,” highlights Tsvetelina Zlatkova, whom you can actually see serving guests alongside the other restaurant employees.

“We endeavour to bring environmentally-friendly and bioproducts outside our kitchen as well,” she notes. “Apart from the snail farm that we had to build in our own garden since it turned out that there is no supplier in Bulgaria, we do our best to support local farmers and producers. For instance, our fruits and vegetables supplier has a vast garden located just 10 km from the hotel. Often, during the season, we bring our guests there to show them where their food comes from. Also, on the other hand, we support our own personnel - we attract them directly from schools, we educate them and subsequently, they enroll for higher education. We even have two people who took that path and became managers in our hotel.”

Admittedly, with the pandemic and all the All-inclusive restrictions, the number of regular tourists from abroad has plummeted: “At the beginning of the crisis, just like every other hotelier, we had our difficulties, but have now succeeded in redirecting our guests from one place to another. It was harder working with our employees since neither of them was used to such conditions. Thankfully, both our team and the visitors were well-accommodated. It seems that any frivolous behaviour has been eradicated. Our guests are exceptionally well-behaved, keep their distance and do not gather in crowds. When it comes to extending the season - weather conditions until 15^th to the 20^th of October will be excellent,” believes Tsvetelina Zlatkova. “This is the best weather for going to the beach - the sea is extremely calm, it is not too warm or cold”, she says and adds: “We will most probably organize numerous events for the end of the season, among which weddings and our traditional petanque tournament.”

Now, when there are still not many tourists on the beaches of Primorsko, the environment is notably calmer, and visitors are feeling safer. In addition, all umbrellas and sunbeds are free for everybody.

English version Boris Totchev