Covid-19 impact: Less than 35% of places of accommodation in Bulgaria saw revenue up in August
Only about 34.8 per cent of places of accommodation in Bulgaria said that their revenue in August 2020 was higher than in July, according to a special survey by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.
Thirty-nine per cent said that there was no change in their revenue compared with July, while about a quarter reported a decrease in revenue, according to the NSI poll.
A month earlier, a previous NSI poll found that 34 per cent of places of accommodation reported increased revenue in July compared with June, about a third reported no change and a third reported a decrease.
About 23 per cent expected to suspend their operations temporarily and just more than four per cent of the more than 800 places of accommodation that took part in the voluntary survey expected to shut down.
As in previous months since the Covid-19 crisis began, just more than half were offering clients an alternative period to use their reservations.
More than two-thirds were reducing prices of package services and just less than half cut the price of overnight stays.
Hardly surprisingly in the context of the fact of August being among the strongest summer holiday months, even with the Covid-19 crisis, there was a downturn in the number of managers who said that they had cut staff salaries, sent them on leave or sent staff to work from home.
The NSI said that the number who reported that they had benefitted from government measures to support business had gone up by close to five per cent.
In the short term, 57.4 per cent said that they would keep their staff, while just more than 38 per cent said that they would hire more employees.
(Photo: Kevin Rutherford)
The Sofia Globe’s coverage of the Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria is supported by the Embassy of Switzerland.
For as little as three euro a month or the equivalent in other currencies, you can support The Sofia Globe via patreon.com and get access to exclusive subscriber-only content. Please click on the orange button below.
