Sofia's potential

[ghost1]

Here are exerpts from the 2003 METREX (European Metropolitan Regions and areas) Report "PLANNING FOR MAJOR EVENTS". In the same report they review Athens - Summer Olympics 2004, Torino - Winter Olympics 2006, Stuttgart - 2012 Summer Olympics bid, London - 2012 Summer Olympics bid and Sofia 2014. Unfortunately I can't find it anymore on the net, but here are some copied parts:

Revising the basic points of consideration in view of the new conditions we find out that :

- The Mount Vitosha has geographic potential to host all the competitions along with Rila and Pirin. With the better transport links (the Strouma highway, part of Euro corridor N4) planned to be ready in very short terms the accessibility

between Sofia and Bansko will be within approximately one hour and between Sofia and Borovetz it will be even less – about half an hour. In the world practice there was already a precedent of a larger scale - two different states successfully shared the role of a host for such major sport events. In our case this relative decentralization will do better from both economic and ecological point of view, giving chances for business and employment to

more municipalities in the region and preserving the nature from overloading and disturbing the delicate ecologic balance.

- The transport accessibility from all world destinations to Sofia will be much improved by the year 2014. A reconstruction of the international airport is in progress. The European transport corridors N 4, 8 and 10, passing through Sofia Municipality, are planned to be completed with all their elements, including high class modern car and rail roads and modern telecommunication.

- The lodging of the Olympic officials and the tourists requires a larger hotel base – there are many suitable sites for construction of new hotels from different categories, the four star and above regarded as more important and requiring a

pro-active policy of the Municipality.

- The team of the Master Plan is convicted that even the serious preparation alone for the Winter Olympics bid can stimulate the development of Sofia and its Metropolitan area. In the new economic, social and legal conditions the preparations will do much for the establishing of new practices in coordinated planning and new types of partnerships with the participation of the State through its Ministries and respective regional structures, the Municipalities, the National Olympic Committee and the National Sports Federations, the potential investors from the private sector from Bulgaria and abroad in the different areas

of the complex.

No doubt Sofia can expect serious marketing benefits. Hosting a prestigious event of this range makes the sites of the venues well known all over the world. The mountain – attractive for sports and leisure in all four seasons, the abundant mineral water sources presenting a rich palette of

various specific qualities each source for healing and embellishing procedures, the city of Sofia itself with its historic monuments and active economic, cultural and

social life can expect more tourists as after the Games the synergic use of all the resources for tourism can fully perform its long term effect.

Well, that's pretty much everything on Sofia in this report, exept the beginning where they speak about the location of Sofia and the two previous bids

Note that the report is from 2003

[amorincognito]

That's a really interesting analysis, and it really sums up the impressions that I also have about Sofia and the future of the winter bid, though I'm not too sure if the distance between Sofia and Bansko can be covered in an hour.  You'd have to go pretty fast to drive it, according to the distances given in the bid document.  PyeongChang is planning an end-to-end concept that covers 125 km in an hour with the venues easily accessible from the expressway, so if Sofia does the same, as this article states, travel times could be greatly reduced.  Great potential, absolutely, and though it's "old news", it's an excellent analysis.