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Bulgarians Spend Record BGN 800 M during Winter Holidays despite Crisis

Monday, Jan 05, 2009

At least BGN 800 M were spent in Bulgaria during the Christmas and New Year's holidays, which is a record amount for the country.

The news was reported Saturday by the 24 Chasa Daily, which cites data from the Gallup Agency, and points out that apparently the Bulgarians were not affected by the global financial crisis.

The sum spent for food, presents, holidays, etc, at the end of 2008 is significantly greater that the BGN 740 M that the Bulgarians spent during the winter holidays in 2007.

About BGN 300 M were spent on food and drinks during the holidays. The large Bulgarian hypermarket chain "Picadilly" saw a 10% increase in the volume of its sales even though most of that is said to be due to the inflation rather than the increase in the quantity of the purchased products.

The Bulgarians spent some BGN 200 M on household appliances, TV sets, laptop computers, and mobile phones during the winter holidays, according to the owner of the "Technopolis" store chain. Technopolis is expected to register a 15-20% increase in its sales largely due to the dynamic consumption before September 2008. Another appliances store chain, Technomarket, saw a 23% increase in its sales in 2008.

At least BGN 200 M were spent in Bulgaria during Christmas and New Year's for other types of presents such as clothes and children's toys. According to the Gallup Agency, each Bulgarian family spent BGN 102,35 on average on presents, which is BGN 18 more than in 2007.

The Agency's data shows that 85% of the Bulgarians spent Christmas at home, and 73% stayed home on New Year's. Yet, according to data from the major tour operators at least BGN 100 M were spent for Christmas and New Year's vacations.

Bulgaria's winter resorts Bansko, Borovetz, and Pamporovo were totally overbooked, and a number of Bulgarians did travel to Greece for New Year's despite the recent street riots there.

Source: Sofia News Agency