Bulgaria moves to solve huge staff shortfall in tourism industry
Bulgaria is heading into its winter 2018/19 tourism season yet again facing a serious shortfall of staff for the hospitality industry.
For Bulgaria’s winter resorts, a concern is not only whether there will be enough snow to be a drawcard. A further worry is how they will staff up to serve the country’s growing number of foreign and local tourists.
Summer 2018 saw Bulgaria importing staff, from bartenders to room cleaners, from nearby countries such as Moldova, Ukraine and the Republic of Macedonia, to fill the gap left by young qualified Bulgarians who prefer the higher salaries in holiday resorts to the West and elsewhere in the globe.
On November 12, the Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy announced an agreement to re-train both unemployed and employed Bulgarians for the tourism industry.
“Through the qualification and re-training agreement in tourism, we will ensure sustainability in the sector,” Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova said at a meeting of the Interministerial Council for Tourism Staff.
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(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
