How Sunny Beach was created

Sunny Beach, also known as Zonen Strand, Sunny Beach, Solnechnyy bereg or Cote d'Azur, is one of the most famous and visited resorts in Bulgaria. It was created more than 50 years ago, when in 1958 the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Bulgaria decided to build it. The design of the complex began in 1957 under the leadership of architect Kolyo Nikolov and a team of young, talented specialists. The first groundbreaking was on September 1, 1958 in an area known as "the small Nessebar desert", where there were two wells with geraniums, from which the local people drew water.

The construction of the resort was led by the first director of the construction site - Yani Gyurov, and later by Mikho Angelov. The first technical manager was Stefan Kesarovski, and the leaders of the first construction brigades were Kosta Rachev, Krastyo Vikev, Mladen Tafadzhiyski, Dencho Kosev and Nikola Kosev. The machinery with which the construction began included five concrete mixers with manual loading, several conveyor belts and winches.

Parallel with the construction of the hotels, restaurants and other facilities, the Sunny Beach forest park was also designed and afforested, into which 550,000 cubic meters of fertile soil were transported and 300,000 coniferous and deciduous trees, 770,000 ornamental shrubs, 100,000 roses and 200,000 dune grasses were planted. The first restaurant "Neptune" was opened on June 1, 1959, and the first hotel that welcomed the first tourists on June 8, 1959 was "Kalina". Citizen Frantisek Silvester from Czechoslovakia is registered as the first foreign tourist to arrive at the resort.

The first tourist season began without an official opening, as the tourists arrived with foreign buses, which did not enter the main road, but were taken directly to the "Kalina" hotel. By the end of 1959, 30 hotels and 4 chalets with 2,655 beds, 5 restaurants with 4,102 seats were put into operation in "Sunny Beach", and the tourists who passed through were 18,099, of which 14,022 were foreigners, but only 128 from non-socialist countries.

The first director of the tourism enterprise "Sunny Beach" was Anastas Karolev, who spoke foreign languages. Initially, the administration was housed in the banquet hall of the "Neptune" restaurant. The most preferred products from the first tourists were "Pliska" cognac, "Solntse" cigarettes, strawberries, peaches, tomatoes and cucumbers.

Over the years, the resort has been constantly expanding and modernizing. The number of hotels, restaurants and other facilities has increased significantly, reaching 85 hotels with 18,600 beds and 108 catering facilities in 1969. The number of foreign tourists from capitalist countries increased from 128 in 1959 to 38,028 in 1969. Important achievements such as the millionth, two-millionth and five-millionth tourist have been registered.

In 1985, the "Elenite" holiday village was opened to the "Sunny Beach" complex, and in 1993 the Bulgarian "Blue Flag" movement was established in the resort, which awarded it the "Blue Flag" eco-prize in 1995. The resort has gone through the privatization process, as in 1994 it was announced for privatization, and in 1997 25% of its capital was sold to private investors.

Currently, "Sunny Beach" AD is managed by a Board of Directors, headed by Mladen Mutafchiyski, with Malina Stratieva as Executive Director. The resort continues to be one of the most popular holiday destinations in Bulgaria, with the number of tourists who have stayed there since 1959 reaching 9,338,220 by 2009.