Bulgaria Expects Summer Tourism Boost as Foreign Interest Grows
Around half a million Bulgarians chose to spend Easter inside the country, while roughly 120,000 traveled abroad
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Four fifths of seasonal workers in Bulgaria with work permits from the Employment Agency are citizens of Ukraine. This is the data of the Employment Agency, quoted by Dnevnik. Second is Moldova, but with only 4% of the issued permits.
From the beginning of 2017 to 25 August seasonal employment of up to 90 days was registered by 3 215 foreign nationals, third-country nationals with 571 employers' declarations, according to agency data. Most of the permits are issued to employers from the tourist business of the seaside resorts, while the requests from the mountain resorts are few. There are also requests in the "Agriculture" sector. There are no declined requests.
According to NSI data for the second quarter, the occupants in the hotel and restaurant industry are 176.7 thousand people, which means that the labor force imports cover less than 2% of the jobs, even if all permits are issued only in tourism.
A day ago, the National Institute of Statistics reported that most workers complain of labor shortages from employers in industrial production.
From the beginning of the year until the end of last week 125 "blue cards" have been issued to foreigners. Russia, Ukraine, India, China, Macedonia and the United States citizens are predominant. The professions are IT specialists, engineers, managers. 65 decisions were issued for positions in the IT sector included in the List of Professions for which there is a shortage of highly qualified specialists. Last year, 195 "blue cards" were issued.
Around half a million Bulgarians chose to spend Easter inside the country, while roughly 120,000 traveled abroad
Bulgaria’s tourism sector has never been stronger and has been achieving steady growth for the past few years.
Specialists in the real estate and tourism sectors are forecasting a notable rise in the prices of vacation properties in Bulgaria, with estimates pointing to an increase of between 25% and 30%
The ski zone above Bansko is set to welcome visitors during the Easter holidays with exceptional late-season conditions, as snow cover near Todorka Peak has reached close to three meters
President Iliana Yotova has called for Bulgaria to be actively promoted as a safe and competitively priced destination in order to secure a strong tourist season, during a meeting with caretaker Tourism Minister Irena Georgieva
From May 20, 2026, around half of Bulgarian short-term rental listings are expected to disappear from platforms such as Airbnb and Booking, as new EU rules on digital registration and data exchange come into force
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