Bulgarian Tourism Sees Strong Start, Faces Staffing Challenges
Coastal hoteliers are increasing employee wages by at least 20% to address the staff shortage
In the middle of the summer, hotels on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast remain half empty, and accommodation offers are exceeding the demand.
The Union of the Owners in the Sunny Beach resort have reported around 20% decrease of the tourist flow. However, everyone who goes to the resort will notice that most of the hotels are half-empty and the crowd is not as big as usually during this time of the year.
The State Tourist Agency has announced that many hotels would not even open this summer. The number of rooms offered is way over the number of tourist willing to have their vacation at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.
One fifth of the hotels, mainly those on second and third line, are empty, the Institute for Analysis and Evaluation of Tourism confirmed.
Besides this, near 700 hotels are for sale for second year in a row, and there is no sign of anyone willing to buy them, the institute commented.
However, more and more hotels are being opened, and even more are to constructed. Representatives of the construction branch in Bulgaria, suggest that the contractors are expecting miracle to happen, Darik Radio said.
The reason for the complete ruining of the season is the high prices, compared to the value-quality ratio in Greece and Turkey, experts say. Prices on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast are way higher than these in the interior of the country. Surplus charges exceed 100-200%.
On the other hand, many Bulgarians have decided to go on a vacation in Greece or Turkey, which have offered tourist packages for this summer season on prices a lot lower than in Bulgaria.
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