Spain’s 2024 Eurovision campaign totalled nearly €600,000, with the participation fee representing just over half the cost. Ireland’s 2024 budget reached €390,000, despite a relatively modest €101,090 participation fee. For Romania, the 2023 bill came to €400,000, including €80,000 for staging and €63,000 for their national selection show.
Bulgaria has not participated in the last couple of years due to the cost of entering. Given it cost 80,000 euros for Romania's staging alone a couple of years ago, you really wouldn't be putting much into your national selection show if you were Bulgaria. You'd only spend money on final staging once you had made your selection.
I think that the Romanian entry in 2024 actually contributed 30,000 euros to the cost of his own participation if memory serves correctly.
There are other examples of artists paying a significant amount towards their show too. Serhat for San Marino paid the whole lot a couple of years ago (I wonder why was their entry...)
I wonder how the Bulgarian entry this year (particularly the staging) was eventually funded with this in mind.
Its worth thinking that Dara is a big star in Bulgaria and opened for Robbie Williams in Sofia in the past. Eurovision would be a natural gateway to a wider european career - so it wouldn't surprise me if at least some of the costs have been absorbed by her or her record label as an investiment as it would be worth their while even if she hadn't won. She would be able to put in more than someone else if they had won the Bulgarian selection but she certainly wouldn't have made this investment before getting the gig.