„More businessmen from the tourism industry in politics is part of the formula for success of native tourism. Hoteliers know what the problems are in the industry. The shortage of personnel is serious, and not from now, but for many years”.
This is what the hotelier Stoil Dalevski told Euronews Bulgaria about the latest data announcing the shortage of personnel in the tourism industry. The hotelier points out that the shortage of personnel is probably also due to the levels of pay in tourism.
“With our greatest desire to have staff and work year-round, we as a country have a relatively short season, which also reflects in the remuneration. The schemes for working with tour operators is also one of the factors, as well as the problems with Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine, which are problems not only for the Bulgarian industry, but we are one of the most affected countries, added Dalevski.
As for the legal changes regarding citizens from third countries and the possibility for them to work in Bulgaria, Dalevski is categorical:
Things happened and I'm proud of what all of our colleagues in the industry have done. My colleagues and I submitted a letter in the last days of the 49th National Assembly and the changes concerning third country workers were made.
“In addition to our proposal, the work of the business became easier, and more employees were also hired in the “Migration” department to carry out the necessary checks and guarantee our national security”, the businessman pointed out.
The new changes ease the application process for third-country worker visas and there is no longer a need, after the 90-day period, for foreigners working in our country to return to their native places and apply again, all in the midst of the tourist season.
For me, there is no reason to worry that foreigners will take the jobs of Bulgarians. I recall that “third parties“ covers countries such as North Macedonia, Ukraine and Moldova, and these are countries that have tens of thousands of people with Bulgarian self-awareness. This is also a help for the Bulgarians there, who will be able to find higher paying jobs here in Bulgaria.
Stoil Dalevski, hotelier
According to Dalevski, the lack of adequate advertising of native tourism is one of the biggest problems for the industry. On the other hand, Dalevski appeals to hoteliers not to look so much at the number of tourists, but to pay more attention to the quality of the service they offer.