Competitive environment on the hotel services market in Bulgaria: status quo and specifics
Author: Miroslava Mihajlova, Prof. Lina Anastasova, PhD (Commission for competition protection, Burgas Free University)
Keywords: competitive environment, hotel services, tourist demand, tour operators
The main aim of the European concept for tourism is the promotion of the competitiveness in a long-term perspective because according to the economic analysis of EC tourism is on third place in Europe as social-economic activity after trade and construction sector. At the same time one of the main 4 priority components for action in order to achieve the aims of the Initiative “An Industrial Policy for the globalization era” is again the promotion of the competitiveness in European scale. In this context the Commission for competition protection in Bulgaria conducted a survey and desk research of the competitive environment on the Bulgarian hotel services market. For the purposes of the paper, the analysis is made from the point of view of Michael Porter's theory of 5 forces of competition. The survey sample includes 174 Bulgarian hotels with various profiles in terms of star category, seasonality, geographical location and tourism product profile. The article presents the analysis of the survey data with conclusions and suggestions for improvement of the factors influencing negatively the competitive environment of the Bulgarian hotel sector.
