FRONTLINE IN THE SPOTLIGHT: A LOOK BACK AT 53 YEARS OF BALKAN HOLIDAYS


1971: Sales and promotions manager Mike Walsh (left) launches Balkan’s 1972 brochure with the help of TV star John Inman


2018: From left, Balkan Holidays’ Alex Stoyanov, Louise Newton, Chris Rand


and Denis Ilic Below:


Brochures through the ages


Balkan Holidays has come a long way since offering a week in a hotel beloved by Communist party leaders for £39, learns Juliet Dennis


k


The year Balkan Holidays launched in the UK was a memorable one. It was 1966. England won the


Football World Cup and the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine topped the charts. But 53 years ago, the operator was owned by the Bulgarian state. Hotels popular with Communist


party leaders had sprung up along the Black Sea coastline in the 1950s – today’s Sunny Beach and Golden Sands resorts – and the Bulgarian government saw an opportunity to promote them in the UK. The London-based operator,


which remained state-owned until 1998 and ran agency Conduit Travel until 1991, brought out its first brochure and started its own proper charter programme with Balkan Bulgarian Airlines in 1969. A week in a resort a far cry


from today’s high-rise hotel developments cost £39. Managing director Alex Stoyanov


says: “The beaches were empty, with only a few hotels. These were communist-built resorts for the elite.” In 1973, Balkan was one of the


first operators to get an Atol – its licence number is 252. It carried 120 passengers a fortnight to Bulgaria in Russian-built aircraft. Strong


travelweekly.co.uk


trade support in the 1970s helped Balkan establish its UK foothold, with agents helping attract bookings from unions and factory workers. The first charter, on a Boeing 707


in 1974, carried 30 agents and then-Travel Weekly editor Jeff Mills.


EXPANDED RANGE A ski programme was introduced in the late 1970s, then Turkey, Romania, Cyprus, Greece, Cuba and the former Yugoslavia joined the stable. In contrast, Balkan today offers Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Romania alongside Bulgaria. The number of staff rose from 20


in 1970 to 48 in 1991. By the early 1990s, war was


raging in Yugoslavia and operator Intasun had failed, so many holidaymakers turned to Bulgaria – and Balkan. “They were looking for somewhere else and Bulgaria was the obvious choice,” says Stoyanov. “We didn’t have any big competitors 20 years ago, it was only us.” Stoyanov was recruited in 1999, when Balkan was acquired by private investors. He recalls: “The company was losing money. We had to restructure and make people redundant. That was the only year we wondered if the business would


survive.” Stoyanov lived in a flat on the fourth floor of the office. Large-scale expansion came in


the 2000s. The group established Balkan Holidays Airline (BHAir) in 2001, and between 2001 and 2008, turnover rose from £7 million to £55 million. At its peak in 2005-06, Balkan carried 135,000 passengers out of 21 UK airports. “Sunny Beach was seeing 10


or 15 hotels open a year,” says Stoyanov. “When the euro was introduced in 2002, the cost of living in Spain and Portugal went through the roof, and people wanted better value. Bulgaria ticked the boxes.” Today, Bulgaria’s value beach


offering is Balkan’s focus, although it offers walking and golf tours, tailor-made and ski. It remains a traditional budget package operator, with reps in resort and all-inclusive two-week holidays for £550, because “that’s what clients want”. Its airline has five A320s and the


group continues to receive strong support from agents. “Thanks to them we started this company and thanks to them we continue offering our products through multiples, miniples and independents,” says Stoyanov. “They are the lifeblood of Balkan Holidays.”


25 JULY 2019 65


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100