Small and medium-sized businesses insist on a differentiated rate of 9% for hotels and restaurants, BNT reported.
At a meeting in Kyustendil, they expressed their concerns about the existence of tourism in Bulgaria due to their inability to provide quality service not only due to the return of the 20% tax, but also the increase in salaries, energy and all accompanying costs.
Representatives of small hotels and restaurants wished to differentiate themselves from their colleagues who manage large restaurant and hotel chains, since since Covid, many of them have been operating at a loss and the return of the 20% VAT would mean bankruptcy. For now, no increase in prices for the end consumer is planned, but if a differentiated VAT is not introduced permanently, the client will be the most harmed.
"We are small, local. Mostly small hotels and restaurants. Small establishments. And we want to say how important it is for us to be able to stay on the market. We want this image of restaurateurs - bad, and this mud that is thrown at us to be cleared, because we provide a product that is part of tourism," said Angelina Vlashka, owner of a small business in Kyustindil:
"This is an appeal to all parties who believe that we should develop tourism, attract investments. The condition for the development of this sector is a low VAT rate of 9%. "All competing countries operate with a lower tax rate - Greece, Austria, and Croatia," said Pavlin Petrov, Deputy Minister of Tourism /pictured/.