Assoc. Rumen Draganov is the Director of the Institute for Analysis and Forecasting of the Information Environment in Tourism and a member of the Control Board of the National Tourism Board. He gave an interview to Iskra.bg, in which he commented on the expectations for this summer season, what are the trends in tourism and what tourist product Bulgaria offers.
How is the summer season going so far?
“So far the summer season is going according to forecasts. The programme is being implemented in the volumes we expected. Bookings from the UK, Central Europe – Czech Republic, Slovakia – are being realized in the volumes that were previously agreed. In the German market, there was a bit of turmoil in connection with the bankruptcy of a tour operator, but there is no significant change in the numbers.
The domestic market continues to develop. Bulgarians are very intensively visiting tourist sites throughout the country, especially at weekends. They are used to making short but frequent trips. This trend leads to us having much more active travel. Since the pandemic, people are traveling a lot more.”
Are tourists returning from the UK?
“We have 240,000 charter seats contracted, separately there are low cost and scheduled flights. We will probably reach 480,000 guests from the Island. These are figures that are close to the number of tourists we had before the pandemic.”
And tourists from central Europe?
“We have not yet reached the parameters that were in the days of socialism, when more than 700,000 tourists came from these countries. But we have very high volumes from these destinations and a high repeat travel rate. Some of them visit our country several times in a year.”
What kind of hotels are we welcoming guests to?
“Bulgarian hotels are similar to Italian hotels – the materials, the furniture, the lighting, the equipment – everything. We buy Italian goods and offer quality at a European level. What is different between us and Italy is that there you can only find local wine, whereas here there is a huge variety and wine is available from all over the world.”
What proportion of Bulgarians holiday?
“Bulgarian tourists are about 4 200 000 people. The most active travel on average about 5.8 times a year. This number does not include those living abroad. Around 2 million travel outside the country. The rest do not holiday intensively for various reasons: they work in tourism, are involved in livestock breeding or agriculture, are elderly, etc.”
Is there a labour shortage problem?
“Now I’ll tell you what the problem is. There is fierce competition in the tourism market, not only in Bulgaria but all over the world. Those who know how to do business, they don’t have a problem with personnel. They have been working with the same people for years and everyone is happy. They have a problem with those who change 20 chefs in 20 years and now want us, the public, to provide them with the 21st. But he won’t pay all the salaries either and then he’ll get kicked out. Society is not obliged to take care of such. If it can’t cope, go do something else. Those who do tourism and know how to work with people – succeed. Those who don’t know – have no place in this market. It’s not society’s problem that one person can’t keep a worker and no one wants to work with them. Let’s face it – if people aren’t being paid, they are being lied to, and at the same time money is being splashed around to show off wealth, it’s off-putting. There are no people working for such employers anymore. In tourism it is very important to work as a team and to have respect. We are not just talking about money here, but motivation: pay, conditions, accommodation, food, care for the worker and his family. If this is not there, then you cannot work.”
What about Bulgarian black-eyedness?
“We like to complain. That’s the fashion. If I talk like a traditional native I have to complain about how there are no tourists, how bad the advertising is, etc. And then I will be understood and well received by everyone. I work all over the world, travel all over the world, use planes, hotels, food – it’s wonderful in Bulgaria and here there is no difference! This is our problem as Bulgarians, that we cannot appreciate what a paradise we live in.”
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