The first hotel to be owned by foreigners was officially opened in the neighbourhood of Zla Reka in the town of Apriltzi. The new owners – the Englishmen Andrew Kelland and Mark Christie have adopted the name of their real estate agency in Plymouth – “Property Links”. A year and a half ago, while traveling from Sofia to the Black Seaside, Mark passed through Apriltzi. He looked around, liked the scenery of the mountain, the tranquility of the little town and its people. He liked especially much the big yellow building (at that moment the hotel was owned by Hristo Matev, the previous chairman of the municipality council in Apriltzi). After two hours of negotiations he came to an agreement with the owner and the deal was set, the Englishman relates to us today. When he got back in England, he told his partner Andrew that he had bought a big yellow hotel in Apriltzi. When Andrew himself came to Bulgaria, he approved of the investment. “We like the atmosphere and the people very much. We come here each 2 – 3 months and during the rest of the time we completely trust the people we have hired to manage the hotel. The flow of tourists is not so big at present. We believe that in 4 – 5 years it will develop”, the Englishmen comment but admit that they have engaged to be doing this for the pleasure of it, not the profit. Besides the hotel, “Property Links” own one other house in Apriltzi and one in Samokov. They are sending clients to Bulgaria to choose and buy properties. So far, the interest has been directed mainly towards Bansko. “The Englishmen wouldn’t be here and would not have bought a hotel if half a year ago they haven’t met helpful people”, says the Mayor of the town, Ivan Pirov. They come back each two or three months and in the meantime they have full trust in the people who take care of the building and the guests. The private hotels are already 12 and about 40 families are engaged in this business, says Mayor Ivan Pirov, who was a guest at the opening. “We do indeed develop the tourism in Apriltzi but we shouldn’t hurry up too much because it is nature which is the thing most beautiful here and if we go on with developing the tourism too fast, we risk of damaging nature”, he thinks. At present, the facilities in the small mountainous town are improving dynamically but the tourists still lack attractions, although some eco-routes and other ideas have been launched.