Bourgas

The town of Bourgas Geography and population The region of Bourgas is situated in the South-East part of the Republic of Bulgaria. The region is the second largest in the country, after the Sofia region, with its area amounting to 7753.14 square km. The population of the region is 440372 inhabitants in 255 settlements, 16 of which are towns and 239 – villages. Nearly 69,9% of the population live in the towns and 30,2% -in the villages. The density of population of Bourgas region is 55.1 people per square km whilst for the whole country this parameter is 74.6 people per sq. km. Logistics-roads, railroads, ports airports To the East Bourgas borders on the Black Sea, this offers great possibilities for the development of the sea transport, foreign trade, fishing and resorting. Intensive economic links are maintained with Northern Bulgaria thanks to the convenient road passes through the eastern part of the Balkan range. To the South the Bourgas region borders on the Republic of Turkey. The following international roads cross the territory of Burgas: The panorama road Konstanca - Varna - Bourgas - Malko Turnovo - Istanbul crosses the territory of the region The Pan-European transport corridor No.8-Scopie - Sofia - Bourgas - Varna E87 – Romania – Duranmkulak – Varna – Burgas – Malko Tyrnovo – Turkey E773 – Burgas – Sliven – Popovitsa - Sofia – Yugoslavia Sea transport Bulgaria has two major ports on the Black Sea, Burgas and Varna and they both act as East-West transport corridor gateways of Bulgaria. Bourgas is the second largest port in Bulgaria, but it keeps the lead for commercial exchange of goods tree fourths of all imported and exported goods. The Bulgarian railways network and the Bulgarian national road system link port Bourgas with major industrial inland points of the Balkans. Bourgas offers a large port facility, which can accommodate various ships and is close to a modern commercial airport. Airport transport The Bourgas Airport activities include international passenger charter flights during the summer season, as well as year-round international and domestic cargo flights and scheduled passenger flights between Burgas and Sofia. The projected average annual traffic for the period 2000 - 2003 is approximately 10,000 aircraft movements, 700,000 passengers, and 4.000 tons of cargo. Industry The Bourgas region is one of the most important industrial regions in the country. Its industrial production includes products of great importance for the national economy, like the LUKOIL Neftochim oil refinery. Agriculture Agriculture occupies an important part in the economic structure of the region. The production of cereals (wheat, corn, and barley) is traditional. The region is specialized in the production of grapes (wine and table grapes), apples, almonds, cherries, sugar beet, tobacco and sunflower. Sheep breeding is also well developed. Tourism The sea tourism is specific for the region. The big tourist complexes – Sunny Beach, Elenite, Dyuni and the towns of Nessebar, Pomorie, Sozopol and Primorsko have 89 hotels, 17 camping sites, providing about 30% of the revenues from the national tourist industry. About 2, 5 million foreign and Bulgarian tourists visit these tourist destinations every year.