2024-04-29 22:45:09
Along the Southern and Northern Black Sea coasts, hotels are preparing to welcome tourists for the Easter holidays.
But is there a labor shortage?
According to Rumen Monchev, manager of a hotel located on the first line in Sunny Beach, the problem with the lack of staff is very big.
“We have become an incubator for workers. Over the years, we had to take in more and more foreigners,” he stressed.
“Over the years we worked mainly with Kyrgyzstan, recently we work with Ukrainians, we have people from India, Philippines, Niger. But this thing cannot satisfy us, because in order to have a good tourist product, there must be good service”, Rumen Tonchev explained.
According to him, urgent measures should be taken to ease business.
“They have to take care of the Bulgarian seasonal workers who have to work for at least six months so that these people can go to the stock exchange and then come back to us,” he said.
Although the labor shortage problem remains serious, some hotels will open to welcome tourists on May Day.
In our largest Black Sea resort, Sunny Beach, only a few hotels will be open for the Easter holidays. In most complexes, at least 60% of the beds are reserved.
According to the manager of another hotel in Sunny Beach, Stoika Terzieva, at this time of the year, the largest number of tourists who can arrive with their own transport are expected.
“We also expect tourists from Romania. Traditionally, we have Greek tourists who like to welcome the holiday here, who see our historical places and the sights, churches and monasteries in the area,” she explained.
The price for an overnight stay at this time of the year comes out to an average of 120 BGN per person with an all-inclusive service, comments from the industry. If desired, tourists can pay extra for a festive Easter lunch or dinner, but there are still no restaurant options in the area.
“There is no tradition for the restaurants around the hotels to open early. Therefore, we have a proposal to amend the Law on Tourism – especially for resorts of national importance, so that the establishments around the hotels can be obliged to open, at least a percentage of them to open when the hotels open, because this shapes the general image of the resort . And then not for the hotel to bring negatives because the restaurants around are not open and the tourists remain dissatisfied,” added Stoyka.
However, clothing and souvenir shops located near the operating hotels are preparing to open.
“There are no tourists yet, but we hope there will be.” In general, the seasons happen so that we expect them to be stronger, but it turns out that they become shorter and there is no such quality of tourists as there was years ago”, says trader Stefan Katsarov.
Despite the reservations for the Easter holidays, there will be no umbrellas and sunbeds on the beaches. Mostly because of the changeable weather. They will traditionally be placed on June 1st and will be up to 10% more expensive due to rising costs and inflation.
According to concessionaire Nikolay, despite the warm weather, people should not be tempted to enter the water.
“The water is still very cold, and this sharp boundary between the temperature of the water and the air for people with cardiovascular problems is quite dangerous,” he explained.
The hotels along the Northern Black Sea coast are also ready for the Easter holidays.
“All those who open said that they have sold 100% of the packages they sell. They also gather on many weekends. So some decent revenues are expected for tourism here,” emphasized Stoyan Marinov from the Varna Tourist Chamber.
About 75% of the tourists expected for the holidays on the northern Black Sea coast will be from Romania, and the rest from our country.
According to the manager of the hotel Pavlin Kosev, tourists mainly prefer vacation hotels because they also provide spa centers, writes bTV.
“Besides the walk by the sea and the experience that Varna can offer, the spa centers are also extremely attractive for them,” added Pavlin.
For the holiday, many Bulgarians will also travel to neighboring countries. According to tour operators, the destinations Turkey and Greece are already sold out.