The TUI Group German tour operator will back financially the Dobrich-based Zlatni Privat management-employee buyout company in the privatization of the Golden Sands Black Sea resort. The first step taken in this direction by TUI is to finance the candidate buyers with the USD 2 million deposit, required from bidders. TUI Group is part of HTU, Europe's biggest tourist concern. In 1999, TUI serviced 6.7 million tourists, posting a turnover of 7,000 million Deutsche marks. TUI has been operating on the Bulgarian market for the past 20 years. The deadline for the submission of offers for the acquisition of the 76% stake in the resort was March 9. On Wednesday, the Swedish Fisson Group also unveiled plans to bid for the resort. The assets of the Golden Sands resort include: 6 hotels, 20 restaurants, snack bars, 8 villa complexes and camp sites, 19 retail outlets and shopping centres, 8 playgrounds, 11 swimming pools, a marina, cart racing tracks, 23 storage and 45 other facilities, a car park, 143.57 ha of land. It also has interests in 22 corporations