French plan to invest EUR 550M in Bulgaria’s largest ever ski project

French hotel group Accor, international management company PGI Management and Bulgarian construction company Markan are about to invest EUR 550 million in a mega ski resort between Separeva bania and Borovets in the Rila mountains of Bulgaria, Kapital Daily reports.

The French-Bulgarian project "Destination Rila" will be a completely new mega ski resort, encompassing a skiing area, an aqua center and a golf course among others, the daily writes.

However, the idea about the 55 acres resort is still at an early stage and has no real project has been submitted so far for consideration to the state institutions.

Among the other partners of the project are Schneider Electric and Cluster Montagne, the largest association of big mountain investors in France, PR agency Havas told Kapital.

Accor and Markan already have their first completed project in Bulgaria: a Novotel hotel in which the Bulgarian company has invested EUR 22 million.

The planned investment is for a record EUR 550 million according to information from the investors themselves. This would make "Destination Rila ' the biggest tourism project ever made in Bulgaria . Currently, only the preparatory cost amount to around EUR 1 million.

The new investment will include a ski resort with 155 km of lanes, an aqua center, a golf center and 80 other types of activities for tourists. The accommodation for the new resort will be in separate villages, in new hotels hotels from two to five stars. The goal is to operate the resort all year round and to host over 200,000 visitors per year. For comparison, the combined capacity of all current ski resorts in Bulgaria is about 330,000-350,000 tourists per annum.

Adapted from Standartnews