Bulgaria's Economy Rating Upgraded : now Best in Balkans

On July 22, 2011 Moody's upgraded the credit rating of Bulgaria from Baa3 to Baa2 with a stable outlook. This is the first increase of the credit rating of Bulgaria in the last 5 years and the level achieved is now the highest since Moody's started grading the country.

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The increase of Moody's rating distinguishes Bulgaria from other countries in the region. While the rating of Greece was dramatically downgraded during recent months, Bulgaria's rating has moved consistently upwards. Romania's rating has not been increased and is now lower than that of Bulgaria.

In fact, Bulgaria currently has the highest grade rating on the Balkan Peninsula, including those of Greece, Romania, Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. What is more, Bulgaria now has a higher rating than the problematic Eurozone and EU members: Portugal, Greece, Ireland, Latvia and Hungary, which is a reversal in the situation of just a few months ago.

This is the beginning of a process for Bulgaria, which – if brought successfully to an end through sound economic policy – should result in increasing the investment trust in the country, despite the problems of the other countries in the region. As Estonia previously managed to set itself apart from the troubles in the other Baltic countries and achieve a fast and stable recovery of investments and economic growth, Bulgaria has the chance to accomplish such developments in the same manner.

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Bulgaria's Winter Tourist Numbers Increase by 7%

Bulgaria's winter and ski resorts will seek to attract more and more tourists from neighbouring Balkan countries, decided experts who took part in a round table forum discussion in Sofia on Monday 18 April. The event was organized by the Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Tourism, which presented the following results from the completed winter tourism season 2010-2011.

A total of 412641 foreign tourists visit Bulgaria's winter and ski resorts, an increase of 7.1%, while the total revenue from foreign tourists was EUR 204 million, a 2.3% increase year-on-year.

The biggest increases came from the numbers of Balkan tourists and some of the more traditional source countries:

- Romania – 113110 tourists, up 9.3%
- Macedonia – 80560, up by 30.7%
- Serbia – 47901, up by 28.1%
- Turkey – 46029, up by 0.8%
- Germany – 26241, up 18.6%
- Russia – 32541, up by 11.8%
- Ukraine – 15485, up by 16.4%
- France – 10583, up 29.7%
- Israel – 8247, up 25.9%
- USA – 6629, up 13.7%

Tourists from Greece numbered 172845, a decline of 5.2% year-on-year; the UK – 35704, down 3% and Italy – 13531, down by 20.7%.

For the next winter tourism season, the Bulgarian ski resorts plan to invest heavily in artificial snow equipment in order to be able to extend the duration of the season. The top resorts intend to organize various world winter sports competitions – a goal already achieved by Bansko which hosted a world ski cup round this winter.

According to the business executives and experts who took part in Monday's round table, the economic crisis has affected the numbers of British and Irish tourists coming to Bulgaria, while the visa regimes for Russia and Turkey have had a similar effect.

The resorts and the Economy Ministry also plan to boost their efforts to attract Bulgarian tourists to the winter resorts. While Bulgaria's winter resorts are traditionally seen as important for the country's tourism revenue, their share is nowhere near that of the Black Sea summer resorts which are usually visited by several million foreign tourists each year.

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