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Two weeks until the beginning of the Christmas and New Year holidays, the accommodation packages in hotels and guesthouses in our country are sold out.

Despite the crisis and the increase in the price of services in tourism by about 15%, compared to last year, reservations for the holidays are now significantly more.

In recent months, more than 560,000 bookings have been made in our country for holiday trips.

60 thousand of them are abroad, the rest in the country.

Our mountain resorts report that early registrations are significantly more than last year.

Experts explain the greater interest with inflation.

Many families put their money into travel instead of melting it down.

The envelope for the New Year hit 240 BGN

"People are fed up with all kinds of measures related to Covid, now the war. People just can't wait to go to the mountains, get on the skis, have a good time and be healthier. And another explanation for the reason why there are more reservations in our country is that abroad the growth of prices for tourist services, especially for ski services, exceeds 40-50%", Mariyan Belyakov, executive director of "Pamporovo" AD, explains to BNT.

This year, for the country as a whole, the increase in tourist services is between 10 and 20%.

It turns out that short-term vacations are the most preferred for the upcoming holidays.

Vouchers for short breaks of 2.3 nights are most sought after.

For such a vacation, a family with two children, for example, staying in a three-star hotel, will have to pay between BGN 450 and BGN 490 for a package.

But the timing of late bookings is perfect for scammers and phantom ads.

The risk is particularly high in guesthouses.

They are already full and in particular demand now.

"Usually during the holidays, phantom companies appear. They sell vouchers at stations and bus stations and in places where there are crowds of people. It is extremely dangerous to take a holiday voucher or a New Year's reservation from a person you are not sure of. that you can get your money back," said Prof. Rumen Draganov, director of the Institute for Assessments and Analyzes in Tourism.

"There are even drastic cases where, after the reservation is made, the customers contact the advertiser and arrange to be waiting for them at a place that is close to the house to take them because the address is difficult to access and it will be difficult for them to navigate. And in fact, when they get to where the meeting is, no one is waiting for them and they don't know where to continue," said Gabriela Rumenova from the online platform "We, the users".

In order not to ruin your holiday, experts advise that before you leave, once again make sure that this is the place you booked and paid for.

Be sure to check with the Ministry of Tourism.

There is a register of all tourist sites.

vacations

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