Byala (Varna) town information
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Location and historyByala is situated in Eastern Bulgaria near the border of Varna region with Bourgas region. The closest town, situated at a distance of about 5 km, is Obzor. Varna is situated at a distance of approximately 50 km north from Byala, and Bourgas – at a distance of approximately 70 km south from Byala. Irakli camp, one of the most untrodden spots at the Black Sea Coast, is located about 20 km to the south.The first settlement in the region of Byala probably emerged during the VІ century B.C., around the bay of Cape Saint Atanas. Up to now, the most ancient evidence that has been found for ships hitting the beach in the bay, are two remnants from stone-wooden anchors. They date back to the VІ century B.C. All exponents are exhibited in the Demonstration Centre “The White Rocks” in Byala. The settlement used to be located in the immediate vicinity of a famous Roman travel station /Templum Iovis/ and there was a Roman stronghold around it. The station was named after the temple of Zeus. As early as the first half of the 80s, the construction of the street network of Byala was completed. By 1984 a new bus terminal and a new building of the municipality council were opened. In 1986 a stadium and an outdoor cinema were opened. Even today, a significant part of the resources are invested in stabilization of the coastal line, the expansion of the sewage system, landscaping and maintenance of the town and the municipality. Byala was officially pronounced as a town on 5th of September, 1984. Economics and InvestmentsThe economic structure of the municipality is characterized with the development of tourism and agriculture. The most important elements of the natural resources of the town of Byala are the sea and its coast, the mountain with its forest and other mountain resources. These factors together with the lack of significant natural resources, besides the ones related to the sea, direct the development of the region in the area of tourism – elite marine tourism, including yacht tourism, combined with rural and hunting tourism. Transport: The first-class road I-9 Varna-Bourgas passes through the municipality. The construction of the highway Varna-Bourgas is expected to be implemented. For the development of the water transport in “Saint Atanas” bay, a quay wall and a small tourist port are constructed. The port is convenient for servicing the tourists, but not for loading and unloading activities. Water supply: out of the six settlements in Municipality of Byala, only the village of Samotino does not have water supply. The population is looking forward to the construction of the new water-main “Kamchiiski piasatsi”, which will fully satisfy the needs of the fast-growing population of Municipality of Byala. Electric supply: On the territory of Municipality of Byala there is a newly constructed power substation.Sewage system: Only the town of Byala is connected to the sewage system – 70% of the street network, while the remaining part of the town is either currently being connected or has a completed design. The other settlements are not connected to the sewage system.Mass media: The territory of Municipality of Byala has 100% coverage of radio and television signal. In the town of Byala there is also cable television. Internet: The internet access in the municipality is limited on the territory of the town of Byala, but the connection has a very good quality. There are several internet clubs in the town of Byala. Certainly, the mobile technologies allow internet connection from almost every place in the municipality. Healthcare: On the territory of the town of Byala there is one functioning polyclinic. There are two stomatological offices in the municipality.Education: In Municipality of Byala there are three functioning places for pre-school education, which are day nurseries – in the town of Byala, village of Popovich and village of Gospodinovo. Municipality of Byala has a primary school in the town of Byala, an elementary school in the village of Popovich and a high school in the town of Byala – a professional high school in agriculture, established in 1959. Culture: In the larger part of the villages in Municipality of Byala there are functioning community centres, some of which have been established more than 80 years ago.The coastal line of the municipality is characterized with a combination of a rocky coast, small bays and beach strips with sand dunes. The coast is steep and indented, which leads to a serious restriction of the beach potential, but on the other hand makes it more attractive, which is a precious resort resource.The total length of the sea shore is 14 300 m, or 3% from the total length of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. The larger part of the beach has an east, north-east and south-east exposition, which offers more optimal conditions for sun radiation.The existing port of Byala, which is currently being constructed, created conditions for equipping a yacht and a commercial port, which can perform the following functions: accepting passenger hydro-buses and hydroplanes; hitting the beach and performing re-loading operations from and to small commercial vessels; accepting tourist yachts – a yacht marine; equipping a pier for cutters and boats, which will serve the beach strip; equipping a pier for fishing boats; These main functions, which port Byala will be able to perform in the future, will create conditions for the development of passenger and commercial navigation and tourism. A preliminary design and a working design have been developed for the construction of the port.For the development of the water transport in “Saint Atanas” Bay a quay wall and a small tourist port have been constructed. One of the most perspective directions in the development of tourism is yacht sports, for which there are perfect conditions in the town. There is a design for the development of a yacht marine for about 70 yachts. It is planned that this region will also have a fishermen’s village. There are good opportunities for the development of fishing tourism and yachting. The necessary infrastructure has been constructed. The place successfully combines the forest and the sea. The project also plans strengthening of the coast.The investor is Municipality of Byala and the initially pronounced cost will amount to about 450 000 USD. The expected return on the investment is 10.00 %, and the final deadline for completing the project is 3-5 years.Project: Protection of the natural landmark “The White Rocks” and development of the scientific and attractive ecotourism:There is a well-known environmental natural site – “The White Rocks” in the municipality. The site was discovered by the Austrian professor Anton Preisinger, who proved that this is one of the three spots in the world, where one can best observe the Creda/Tertiary border. The site “The White Rocks” is of significant importance for the future goal to develop the ecological and scientific tourism on the territory of the municipality. The discovered signs from the cosmic cataclysm will attract scientific expeditions in the town even outside the active tourist season. A number of efforts have been made by the Municipality of Byala to preserve and make popular this phenomenon so that it can become part of the world history, which deserves to be shown to Bulgarian and foreign tourists. The main goal is to include the site “The White Rocks” – Byala in the list of sites that are significant for the human history, protected by UNESCO under the programme “World Heritage”. The project also plans the establishment of an Information Visitors’ Centre with all the necessary communications – road infrastructure with indicative signs and notices, telephone connection and water supply and sewage. The construction of the necessary infrastructure will provide an opportunity for building commercial and service sites that will serve the journey of the tourists who visit the site “The White Rocks”. This will lead to an increase in the number of employed local people in the tourism sector, to creation of conditions for attraction of foreign investment in the tourism sector. Municipality of Byala is a traditional centre for growing and harvesting grapes, for the vine and winery industry and for fishing. For this purpose the municipality plans the establishment of a market for wholesale and retail trade of the agricultural production. The market will be located in the central part of the town of Byala, in the immediate vicinity of the town square and the main public buildings. The deadline for its establishment is 2 years.The construction of the road between Byala and Shkorpilovtsi has been planned, for which there is a technical design and funding from the government is expected. There will be different types of buildings at these places, such as holiday settlements, residential buildings, and expensive hotels. The territories necessary for the investors for a golf playground in the region have also been already purchased. The types of businesses that are developed in Byala are: hotel and restaurant management, agriculture, hunting and forestry; trade; repairs and technical service of automobiles, motorcycles, private belongings and household appliances; processing industry; The investment interest in Byala is very high at the moment. Modern residential buildings, hotels, houses and villas are being constructed.Tourism is the main sector that is developed in Byala. There is a solid material base for resort and rest, which will develop with a very fast pace in the near future. The plans and efforts are directed toward yacht tourism. One of the traditional occupations in Byala is winery and vine-growing. On the territory of Byala there are large territories of vine plantations. Another sector that is well-developed in Byala is fishing. Since ancient times the local population used the sea to make a living. There is a preliminary design for the establishment of a fishing village close to the port of Byala. The banking and insurance sectors are well-developed – in Byala there are several branches of banks and insurance companies. There is an ATM machine in the centre of the town.Besides the branches of banks, other well-known companies have not opened offices in the municipality. The main big investors in municipality of Byala are national and international construction companies. Development of the real estate marketThe renting relationships on the territory of the town of Byala in the form, which the contemporary economic theory is familiar with, started to develop during the last 4-5 years. With the construction of hotels, complexes of apartments and luxurious resort houses, the rents turned into the main source of income for the local population. Depending on the quality of the accommodation offered and on the season, the prices vary from 4 euro per person per bed for one night for regular rooms and reach 15 euro per person per bed for one night in a luxurious studio, breakfast included during the active season. The prices for rents for the luxurious apartments have a tendency to increase, while the prices for rent in old houses do not increase so much. Demand for premises for rent is low outside the active season with a tendency to create opportunities for year-long occupation of the bed capacity during attractions outside the season. During the last 7 years Byala transformed from a small holiday settlement to a rapidly developing resort centre with modernizing infrastructure and bed capacity. The prices in the region followed the trend of fast increase during the period 2002 – 2005. In 2002 and 2003 the increase was so high, that the real estate prices in Byala at the end of the year were up to three times higher than the prices at the beginning of the same year. Today, a stable increase in the real estate prices is observed, which follows the level of development of the local infrastructure. Tourism and places of interestByala is primarily a tourist centre and during the last years the larger part of the population’s income has come from this economic sector. Byala offers tourist destinations and attractions, such as:Demonstration centre “The White Rocks” – established in 2001. The purpose of this centre is to present the natural landmark “The White Rocks” in the town of Byala. The White Rocks are a continuous rock geological profile with a geochronological Creda-Tertiary dividing line and an accompanying iridium and rare metal anomaly. Byala is the forth place in the world, where signs of the gigantic cosmic cataclysm at the Creda-Tertiary frontier has been discovered, which led to the end of the dinosaur’s era and gave the opportunity for the development of the mammals.The water slide in Byala is located at the central beach. It was opened in 1987. There is a fast food restaurant with 55 seats close to it.In Byala there are functioning hotels, holiday homes, private accommodation and independent rooms that provide accommodation and comfort for the town’s guests at reasonable prices and high-quality service.Rural tourism:This is an opportunity to visit a village house and re-enact the authentic habits. Horse riding is also offered.Since the region of Byala is popular as a vine and winery region, the local wine-cellar has its own vine-growing areas, sawn with the most suitable wine sorts of grapes for the region. The visitors are offered a visit to the local wine-cellar. The wine-cellar produces small batches of high-quality white and red wines, designed mainly for wine-tasting. A new wine-tasting place was opened for the visitors, where they can enjoy selected wines produced by the wine-cellar. An important direction of development in the municipality is the creation of conditions for wide-spread practicing of physical culture and sports. In 1986 the stadium in Byala with 1000 seats was opened. In the town of Byala there are conditions for practicing the following sports: soccer, table tennis, chess, basketball, swimming and others. Competitions in track-and-field athletics, soccer, basketball, tennis and other sports are organized. These events are traditional for the town mainly during the period of the Sea’s Week. In 1975 an outdoor theatre with 1200 seats was constructed.During the summer Byala reveals numerous opportunities for water sports, such as water skiing, water jetting, diving and aqua gliding. The guests are offered a visit to the local wine-cellar. The cellar produces small batches of high-quality white and red wines, designed primarily for wine-tasting. A new wine-tasting place was opened for the visitors, where they can enjoy selected wines produced by the wine-cellar. In summer there are many attractions, restaurants and bars in Byala. Public transport is organized in the evening to one of the largest disco clubs in the countries, located at the beginning of the neighbouring town of Obzor. It is expected that Byala will turn into a modern tourist town at the centre of the Black Sea Coast with a strategic location. In addition, the municipality has about 15 kilometres of beach strip and a unique seacoast and there are very few municipalities that have so many free territories as Byala. However, they have to cope with NATURA 2000. The second port is currently at the stage of design preparation and an intense construction of a holiday settlement is taking place. The goal is that in 2007, when the first yacht from the Netherlands will arrive, the port will be partly opened, and a year later it will be finalized.
Source: www.bgp.bg |
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