 |
 |
 |
| Rus  Eng  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004... | | | 2005... | | | 2006... | | | 2007... | | | 2008... | | | Best specialist | | | 2009 | | | 2010 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgaria
The Introduction The National Guild of Spa Experts often receives inquiries from the different countries on their books, magazines, training courses and etc. And we generally use a principle of “accumulating” effect: upon receiving enough requests from any country, we start to study their Spa service market, to collect the necessary information and sooner or later we accept their invitation to visit the country. Our trips are not of tourist kind! We are professionals in our field and our purpose is to assist in development of Spa Industry in Russia and in the whole world. For the recent years Bulgaria has shown great activity and requests were ranging from joining the Guild, offers on purchasing the rights to our editions to invitations for training programs. This year we have accepted an invitation from travel agency "Interpromservice" to participate in Conference (on 09-14th of April) conducted by East European Association of Balneology, Spa and Wellness-tourism. We have clearly outlined our purposes to the Russian representatives of the inviting company: to get acquainted with directors of Spa Hotels and Spa Centers, to sell our literature and to inform about our activity. We did not get in contact with the Bulgarian party. N.V. Petrovskaya («Centre of Aesthetics», Kostroma City) and L.R. Solodskaya («Spa Loren», Nizhni Novgorod) visited Bulgaria as representatives of the Guild. By the way, they made up their mind to go for a trip for some 2 hours! They are the real members of the Guild of Spa Experts! Optimistic prospects According to the program planned by the organizers of Conference «Spa and Health: the present and the future of cooperation between Bulgaria and Russia», our schedule was as follows: 09.04 — transfer from the airport of Sofia, accommodation, day out. 10.04 — round-table discussion, report from the participants of conference: • The representative of Ministry of Health; • The representative of city administration; • The representative of National tourism. Departure to the Pomorye, accommodation in «Grand Hotel», presentation of Spa Center and Spa procedures. 11.04 — a trip to the resort campus of Albena, a visit to a new hotel, departure to the Gold Sand resort, a visit to a resort campus, departure to the Pomorye, Spa procedures. 12.09 — a conference and a plenary meeting: • The cooperation between Bulgaria and Russia in formation the culture of a healthy way of life. • Trends in spa tourism in Bulgaria and in the whole world. • The mechanism of tourists’ attraction to balneo and Spa resorts of Bulgaria from Russia. • The features of functioning and service in Spa Centers. • The characteristics of the Pomorye resort: the analysis of mineral water and mud cure in balneotherapy. The Presentation of National Guild of Spa Experts in Spa Industry: • Specialized projects on training the experts of Spa Hotels and Beauty Centers. • Joint efforts in conducting the exhibitions and meetings with the leading Russian experts. • Cooperation with Academy of Spa Aesthetics in regard of an educational programme and certification for the ITEC international diploma. Other events 13.04 — departure to the Old Zagorsk mineral baths resort, meeting with manufacturers of the rose oil, visiting the rose brew in Trnichane, working meeting, closing of meeting. 14.04 — departure to Sofia. And severe reality 09.04 — for some 3 hours we were going sight-seeing in Sofia instead of free time, then we were loaded in the bus and went to Velingrad for 4 hours (do you see this trip in the plan?) We were informed that first supper would take place at 19.30, but instead the conference planned on 10.04 unexpectedly began. Nobody of the declared official representatives from Bulgarian city administration was at the conference, instead of them — Mrs. Milanova, the director of the East European association, several managers and owners of 3-4 hotels, some representatives from the cosmetic companies and us – the members of Guild. Everything was crumpled, absolutely over and above the plan. The main question which interested the participants from the very beginning of the conference say was: «Why don’t Russian tourists visit us? ». However it was more logically to touch the questions on development of Spa Industry! What for was this under discussion? I had to take the initiative in conducting the meeting. 10.04 — we were brought to one of the Spa Hotels without any reference to the declared program! Then without warning, we were traveling for some 8 hours by bus through mountain passes! Please note the organizers occupied the first places while the visitors were sitting at the tail-end of really bad kind of bus. Finally we found out that we were going to Sacred Konstantin Hotel of 4 stars (near Varna), instead of the Pomorye. The official delegation of Guild of Spa Experts has already presented their claims and has refused the active cooperation to organizers. 11.04 — visiting the Spa Center. Only 20 minutes were provided for visiting Spa procedures! (Professionals, please appreciate this!). For all that the Bulgarian organizers tried to register as first! After that we were moving for some three hours along the poor way to the Pomorye Hotel. We thought we had a nice opportunity to have a good rest before the conference at last. But…We were brought to a motel (of Turkish type) at the sea and suggested to stay by three persons in each hotel room! An exception was M. Kuchurkina (probably, for great services in Spa Industry). She was offered to occupy a single room in the leading five-star hotel. As a result M. Kuchurkina took a decision to reject all services of receiving party and insisted on booking the tickets for departure to Moscow. There were no flights to Moscow in this region. And while the group was searching for another hotel, the members of Guild ordered individual excursion by means of travel agency which had been invited to this tour. Then they hired transport and left for Sofia. 12-13.04 — we held working and excursion meetings. Our impressions Certainly, we could not travel across the whole country and could not see a considerable quantity of Spa objects and experts; therefore we share our impressions only for what we have managed to see. Investors / Managing directors The majority of investors do not trust in Spa industry as an independent branch capable to make a profit. I have seen in their eyes absolutely inadmissible contempt for their work (!). Therefore such concepts as certification and international cooperation are premature for their consciousness. They should study the work of really successful experts, to take necessary courses, to participate in different conferences and round tables with the professionals in Spa industry. I suppose after that the attitude to their work will be changed and it will be interesting for us to communicate with them. Staff The great advantage of the Bulgarian staff is a good base of medical training. There are many competent masseurs in Bulgaria as well as in Russia. As for the client service, the norms and culture of the service are still the same: they sit ‘with legs crossed’, their hair is not made, they make excursions to the cabinets where clients take procedures etcetera, etcetera. Frequently one centre uses from 8 to 12 cosmetic brands. In general, we did not visit any Spa Center to tell you about as an example. Certainly it exists, but we have not seen it. Associations of the industry The work of associations of the industry practically is not visible. There are no developed and introduced standards; professional actions are not conducted at all. There are some attempts to receive something from the state but they do not show any base or other reasons for this purpose. There are only ambitions and words, words, words - nothing more. The prices for procedures The pricing strategy of Spa salons in Bulgaria is much more favourable than in Russia in respect of clients’ purses. The most expensive procedures cost some 100-150 euros. This attracts wider audience. Spa centers offer various programs: both western and eastern. Much attention is given to the local natural resources — to mineral and sea-water, to rose oil and winemaking products. Bulgaria considerably surpasses Russia regarding the usage of the local natural resources. Cosmetics, equipment and food All leading world brands in cosmetics are presented. Even the most expensive Spa Hotels in Bulgaria do not have their own nominal cosmetics brand. The equipment of Spa Centers surprised us by its high quality of products from the main European manufacturers. Unfortunately, banya and sauna (so favorite by our clients) are not so popular in Bulgarian Spa Centers. The topic of special Spa cuisine was absolutely not familiar to staff of any centre. But we are happy to notice the products offered to clients were of a good quality. All we have to do now is to develop a conception and to introduce this type of service to health-improving programs of hotels and Spa centers. The absolute advantages of Spa rest in Hotels of Bulgaria: • Nice price offers; • The majority of staff knows Russian sufficiently; • High quality of products. Conclusion According to the results of our visit to the Bulgarian Spa objects we have come to the conclusion that unfortunately we can not put into practice mutual programs of development and cooperation at present time. But our trip was devoted to this question. The members of Guild have seen the work of local Spa objects and were convinced there are a lot of non qualified persons in this business in Bulgaria as well as in Russia. Spa association can be created by the masseur as well as by the professor and by the former officers, and by the investor who has constructed one or two hotels. Moreover the German European association grants licences for certification of objects. Therefore there is a great quantity of banners with "Spa Hotel" or "Spa Center" advertising at every corner! It really looks ridiculous. We also went through this phase as well as Germany, the USA and other countries. But there is always a chance to avoid many mistakes; we mean to start working with National Associations from the other countries, including National Guild of Spa experts in Russia. More than one year will pass before Spa will enter our life and our consciousness. But we have a great experience of Spa pioneers in our arms! Therefore even if we «don’t leave America behind» we will catch it quickly enough. Besides, all persons interested in Spa topic are welcome to visit us even today and purchase all the necessary literature, take courses or communicate with experts. We invite everyone who is interested in professional work to develop together with us! Please join us, ladies and gentlemen! And of course be careful in searching the partners as a lot depends upon this choice. On behalf of Guild we would like to apologize before N.V. Petrovskaya and L.R. Solodskaya for the caused inconvenience. P.S In order to avoid any misunderstanding, we inform you about the following: Having presented and sold the literature to Spa Publishing House, we have entrusted our lawyer company to trace all literature which would be issued in Bulgaria on the copyright of the publisher. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © Russian SPA Industry, 2004-2026 |
