A private company asks beachgoers to pay 5 leva to reach Silistar beach near Sinemorets.
Outraged tourists spread on social networks a receipt issued by the company “Peev Invest 2024”. It costs BGN 5 and is marked as “passage fee”.
Tourists coming to Silistar must leave their cars on the main road
and walk 2 km to the beach if they don't want to pay the BGN 5 fee for crossing, flashnews.bg summarized.
The beach is located between Sinemorets and Rezovo.
Local people claim that there was a problem years ago. The argument for collecting the toll is crossing private property.
„This is an absolute fabrication and a violation of all laws.
No one can forbid me to move freely through the “Strandja” natural park, Prof. Atanas Gochev from UNSS, who is on vacation in the area, told TravelNews. He himself is already a resident of Sinemorets and refuses to pay such fees. According to him, it is high time for the state to intervene and take measures.
In previous years, sums were collected in various other forms, including for parking.
Prof. Gochev added that access to the beaches should be free, because they are exclusive state property. No one can take away society's right to them, he emphasized. If the municipality of Tsarevo thinks that this property is important to it, it can alienate it.
The beach itself is on the territory of Tsarevo municipality,
but it is a commitment of the state in the person of the Ministry of Tourism, which must ensure free access. We have no jurisdiction over the “Strandja“ Nature Park. This is a good example of a “vicious circle”, commented the Municipality of Tsarevo. They have been referred to the problem, and the authorities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the prosecutor's office have also been notified.
Tsarevo Municipality has taken steps to develop a parcel plan,
by avoiding the private property, and the road passing entirely through municipal lands. Once this plan is drawn up, the other institutions must be coordinated. This land actually falls into a protected area “Silistar” in the “Strandja” park, and in the future construction of the new route, in the literal sense, it will be a matter of logging. A number of permits are therefore required.