I have a few Bulgarian friends who work in hotels on the black sea coast in the summer. They are there right now and the report that lack of tourist made here is replicated at ground level. They are in fear that their services will not be required right now due to the lack of business being generated. Many workers who have been guaranteed work in the resorts now have found it very hard to find work there. Many students do this and they will find next term a big struggle financially as they rely on lucrative earning during the summer to support their education. It has a big knock on affect and many students will actually pull out of education because they can’t afford it. Interesting enough, the Russian tourism in Bulgaria is the only area where increases are seen.
Bulgarian Hotels 20% Shut, 60% EmptyAbout 20% of the existing hotels in Bulgaria remain closed whereas 60% of the total number of hotel beds in the country remain unoccupied.
The data was announced Tuesday by Rumen Draganov, Chair of the Institute for Analysis and Estimates in Tourism, as quoted by the Pari Daily.
Draganov believes that Bulgaria’s tourism revenue would be 20% lower in 2009 compared to 2008 – about EUR 1,9 B compared to EUR 2,4 B in 2008.
According to Draganov, one of the main factors for the lack of tourists to fill up the hotel beds in Bulgaria is the bad human resource management. Since most hotels provided employment to their staff only three months per year, they were left only with low-skilled personnel, thus bringing down the level of the offered services.
Draganov’s expectation is that more and more hotel owners in Bulgaria would not be able to pay off their credits, and would have to sell or shut down their hotels.Source: www.sofiaallhotels.com
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