Hotel owners and tourism chiefs at the Black Sea resort fear that drone attacks on ships off Byala will drive tourists away and damage the resort's name. A hotel owner and Hristina Slavova of the Regional Tourist Chamber in Burgas said this.

So far, foreign partners have made no specific enquiries. The industry is waiting for October and November.

Morning show host Bogomil Grozev asked whether the military escalation puts next season at risk. He said foreign tourists are hesitating. Tour operators warn that early bookings for next summer are slowing.

The hotel owner said the fears are justified. The industry had hoped the crisis would pass quickly, but it has dragged on. He noted that this season, too, was lived under heavy strain because of the mines found in the sea. Even so, the resort had more tourists, though profits were lower.

The hotel owner said the industry had earlier been working to lift tourism to 20% of GDP. Because of the attacks, that will probably take longer. He called on politicians to stay calm and not declare war on either of the two countries, so hotel owners can invite tourists in peace.

Both asked the government not to take risky steps that could make the problem worse.

Slavova said it is too early to say whether tourist numbers will fall. She said the resort's closeness to the war zone calls for care, so its reputation does not suffer badly.

Whether foreign partners keep their trust in the resort depends on them.

At the end of September, we reported that hotel owners' income in Sunny Beach was about 15% higher than a year earlier, and between 30 and 40% of hotels were still taking guests. June and July were weak, but August and September made up much of the shortfall.

Slavova said charter programmes are being planned.