Tourism Minister Ilin Dimitrov reported that on April 28, 2023, he held a meeting with the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria (AIKB) leadership, where they commented on issues related to current topics in tourism and human resources policy in the sector.
The Labour Association raised several questions on facilitating access to the labour market for third-party citizens and providing human resources with appropriate qualifications in the Republic of Bulgaria. This happened during the National Council of the Association held yesterday, April 28, 2023.
Minister Dimitrov highlighted that about 200 thousand work in the sector, indirectly – at least twice as much. He noted that everyone he meets on the street is probably working on something related to tourism – in the tourism industry or related industries.
The Tourism Minister raised his concern saying that the Tourism Ministry have no problem with tourists but with tourism personnel. Displaying the statistics, Minister Dimitrov outlined that the ministry records growth for the winter season, which is 23% – well above all the most successful years.
He said, “But much can be done to improve personnel policy, as there are worrying trends and staffing shortages. University admission is dropping, and COVID-19 has turned perceptions and desire to work in tourism”.
The tourism Minister noted that he met the representatives of the Association with the main problems and challenges, as well as the work and policies of the MT to overcome them.
The influential groups of tourism workers come from professional high schools, students, retirees who seal their time with seasonal work, specialists in the field and importing personnel from abroad.
The tourism Minister also commented on current practices in attracting workers in tourism, migration processes and European directives that affect labour movement dynamics, visa regimes and legislation relating to importing foreign workers and more.
The institutions and the Labor Migration Council appealed to the business again to ease visa regimes.