BULGARIAN GDP GROWS BY 6% Q1
   Sofia News, 20 June 2005

Bulgarian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2005 has grown by 6% compared to the same period last year.

Preliminary figures by the National Statistical Institute show it amounts to EUR 4,443 B, which totals EUR 571 per person. The country's GDP is expected to grow by 5,2% by the end of 2005.

Gross added value attained by companies for the first quarter of 2005 totals BGN 7,424 B, which is 7,1% higher than last year.

BULGARIA EXPECTS MORE UK TOURISTS
   Sofia News, 18 June 2005:

Bulgaria is expecting a notable increase in the number of UK vacationers this summer.

The tendency for boosted UK tourism interest for Bulgaria started last year, the Balkan Holidays London company has said, cited by Dnevnik daily.

This season, the company is expecting a 15% leap in the number of British guests.

The total number of UK tourists in Bulgaria is expected to be 260,000, the newspaper said.

Data of the Bulgarian Tourism Authority shows that 50 UK companies offer trips to Bulgaria at present.

HOUSE PRICES INCREASE WORLDWIDE, BULGARIA REACHES 31%
   Sofia News, 14 April 2005:

House prices recorded an average increase of 8.7% in late 2004/early 2005 worldwide, shows data of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) and ResearchWorldwide.

According to the survey, which monitors 23 countries on a monthly basis, South Africa at 27.8%, Hong Kong 21.6%, Spain 17.2%, New Zealand 16.4% and France 16.0% top the house price annual percentage change list at present. China, Norway, United States, United Kingdom and Sweden complete the top 10 rankings.

Japan and Germany are at the bottom of the ranking with a registered drop in house prices.

For the sake of comparison, Bulgaria recorded an average increase of 31% for a 12-month period (Q4 2003 - Q4 2004).

Ignoring calls for "bursting bubbles" the man-in-the-street continues to demand residential property to buy not only in Bulgaria, says Deyan Kavrakov, President of FIABCI-Bulgaria and CEO of ADIS Ltd., Bulgaria's leading full service real estate company.

Investing in "bricks and mortar" continues to be more attractive than securities and bonds, he adds.

Experts define a deal as speculative when its return on investment outperforms those in mature markets (8-10%) and is at least 30-40 % and more.

There is no bubble on Bulgaria's property market, but due to its stage of development there may be inadequate prices in some segments, Kavrakov comments.

Prices are expected to slow down around 2007, followed by one year of "wait and see" and - as the experience of Central European countries shows - the market starts its own development, positive in most cases, according to him.

Kavrakov forecasts the price increase of residential property to be a double-digit figure in percentage in 2005, but considerably smaller than the previous year.

BULGARIA BOASTS INCREASING TOURIST FLOW
   Business, 1 July 2005:

Bulgaria has attracted some 3% more foreign tourists for the first five months of 2005, which is a growth of 3.09% compared to the same period last year.

Greeks tourists form the largest share of foreign tourist flow to the country with a total of 273,062 preferring Bulgaria for holiday-making.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry has recorded a continuous rise in tourist coming for Central and Western European countries.

Returns of international tourism, excluding transport incomes, stand at EUR 283.9 M or an increase of 8.13% for the first four months on a year-on-year basis.

MALEV OPENS NEW DESTINATION TO BULGARIAN COAST
   Sofia News, 12 April 2005:

Hungarian airline Malev will start scheduled seasonal flights to Burgas on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast on June 6, the company has announced.

The service to run twice weekly will operate until September 26 using Boeing 737s, the Hungarian News Agency informed.

Burgas is Malev's third destination in Bulgaria after Sofia and Varna. Launching the new flight was justified by Malev's strong position in the region and increased demand for the service from Western Europe.

The Burgas airport had 1.353 million passengers in 2004, almost all of them arriving on charter flights.

Passengers coming on Malev flights from Budapest to Varna fuelled the Bulgarian airport traffic by 21% alone in 2004. The good results and demand for the Varna service prompted Malev to extend the service period, which started on June 2, 2004.

Malev expects both business travellers and tourists to use the service. The majority of passenger traffic will come from Malev's Western and Eastern European network, the company expects.

Last year 4.6 million tourists visited Bulgaria, only 33,000 of them Hungarians, but their number has more than doubled since 2003.