“The blow of such restrictions will be even harder in the context of the world financial crisis,” Blagoy Ragin, head of BHRA, said in a press conference. It is expected that the credit crunch will lead to a 30 to 40 per cent downturn in Bulgarian tourism and if the ban comes into place, the downturn could grow by 30 per cent more and a large part of the family and small establishments will go bankrupt.

The state should share the expense of the ban and introduce tax cuts for the venues that have introduced a complete ban, in order to stimulate them, according to Atanas Dimitrov, head of the BHRA’s regional structure of the Sofia restaurants, who also added that there should be a massive anti-smoking campaign, which should be introduced gradually.

Several examples of other countries that have introduced full and partial smoking bans were given during the press conference. In Scotland, a 10 per cent reduction in the venues turnover was recorded during the first several trimesters after the ban’s introduction. At the same time, the number of people diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome increased. In Germany, which introduced the ban in 2008, a drastic reduction in the turnover of small venues was recorded.

Those in support of the ban, however, say that Bulgaria’s refusal to implement it, as a EU-wide measure, could damage the country’s tourism image. “We could benefit from this ban if we implement a correct marketing approach,” Bayko Baykov of the Association of the Bulgarian Tour Operators and Tourism Agencies, said.

Source: BalkanTravellers.com