The Impact of COVID-19 on Destination’s Life Cycle (The Case of Samokov Municipality, Bulgaria)

Vassia Yaneva – Sofia University St.Kliment Ohridski, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Geography of Tourism Depart- ment, 15, Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1000, Sofia, Bulgaria

Abstract: The life cycle of a destination is a concept used by Butler (1980) to examine and analyze tourism evolution in specific destinations. With the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic world tourism arrivals and revenues decreased, occupancy rates fell, and international markets shifted. The paper aims to examine the extent of these changes and the pandemic effect on the life cycle in one of the most popular winter ski and sports destinations in Bulgaria – Samokov municipality. The methods used are based on statistical data provided by the Bulgarian Statistical Institute. The main results of the research are that Bulgarian tourism in general is recovering quickly and successfully after the COVID-19 pandemic and that the life cycle of a destination is not limited only to the changing numbers of tourist arrivals to it. There is a need to review the classic model of Butler and introduce more indicators to be used.

10th International Scientific Conference ERAZ 2024 – Conference Proceedings: KNOWLEDGE BASED SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT,  hybrid – online, virtually and in person, Lisbon, Portugal, June 6, 2024

ERAZ Conference Proceedings published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans – Belgrade, Serbia

ERAZ conference partners: Faculty of Logistics, University of Maribor, Maribor (Slovenia); University of National and World Economy – UNWE, Sofia (Bulgaria); Center for Political Research and Documentation (KEPET), Research Laboratory of the Department of Political Science of University of Crete (Greece); Institute of Public Finance – Zagreb (Croatia); Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Ohrid, University of St. Kliment Ohridski from Bitola (North Macedonia)

ERAZ Conference 2024 Conference Proceedings: ISBN 978-86-80194-86-8, ISSN 2683-5568,

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/ERAZ.2024

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission. 

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