As the peak summer season gets underway, prices along Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast have once again become a hot topic. Receipts, restaurant bills, and social media videos are fueling debate over whether a vacation by the sea has become too expensive. Yet industry representatives and analysts argue that the real issue is not the price itself, but whether visitors feel they are receiving value for the money they spend.
The discussion intensified after a case in Sozopol, where a group of visitors paid 27 euros for coffee and cake. One of them, Megi Savova, explained that the establishment advertised a promotion that appeared to include coffee and dessert, but the offer did not apply to decaffeinated coffee. As a result, the final bill was significantly higher than expected. For Savova, the problem was not the amount itself but the lack of transparency. “Everyone has the right to set their own prices. The problem is when you start playing small,” she said. The restaurant manager later contacted her, apologized, and offered compensation, which she declined.
Economist Nikolay Filibev believes the biggest challenge facing Bulgarian tourism is the balance between cost and quality. According to him, prices have continued to climb while tourist growth has not met expectations. He noted that hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues are among the sectors reporting some of the strongest inflation in recent years. Filibev added that some foreign visitors, including Romanians, have reportedly chosen alternative destinations after seeing higher accommodation prices on the Bulgarian coast.
