The problems of the industry are related to decisions that are in the competences of many different ministries and the Ministry of Tourism tries to mediate and solve them, but it does not always succeed and acts as a buffer. Bulgarian tourism is extremely unstable to shocks. This was said by Daniela Stoeva, a member of the Board of the Association of Bulgarian Tour Operators and Travel Agents (ABTA), in the program “The World is Business” on Bloomberg TV Bulgaria with presenter Ivaylo Lakov.
Tourism, not only in Bulgaria, but also in the world, has never been famous for very high salaries. But here we have entered a circle and the problem is rooted far in the past. We positioned ourselves as a cheap destination, and we became such because of the reconstruction of the Black Sea region, Stoeva also said. According to her, when the supply exceeds the demand by several times, the price war is a natural thing. And hence the easiest way to reduce your costs – reducing wages or reducing staff.
“We have been spinning in this spiral for many years now, but as globally tourism has been going up, for a very long time, and Bulgaria has also reaped the fruits of this overall positive development. But when the pandemic hit, we found that our industry is extremely unstable to shocks,” said the guest.
One of the most painful things that happened in our sphere after the pandemic was the outbreak of war in Ukraine. It had an extremely negative effect especially on the German market, the interlocutor emphasized, because it is traditional for Bulgaria and “we are not talking only about sea tourism, but also cultural, natural”.
“The market in Germany is very sensitive. It always has been. It is one of the markets that is most reactive to any kind of upheaval or any uncertainty. The German tourist is ready to refrain from traveling to the respective destination at the first such signals. This we saw it back in the 1990s, when the war was close to us, in the Balkans. It was felt immediately and during the pandemic. It was the market that pulled back the fastest.”
This also happened during the war in Ukraine, added Daniela Stoeva. “In other markets, there is also some pullback, but there that fear was overcome much faster and the flow started to recover. For example, the British market last year performed quite well in terms of travel,” said Stoeva.
According to her, the German market, according to our statistics, is still minus 50% behind compared to 2019″.
The expectations of the industry for the upcoming exhibition at the beginning of March in Berlin are high, because “it is the largest exhibition in the world and there really meets the demand and supply of the tourist products of the whole world”, added the expert. “Traditionally, the Ministry of Tourism participates in this type of exhibition with a national stand. At this national stand, any business that works in the inbound tourism market and has an interest can participate. Usually 30-40 companies participate, and each company pays a certain fee.”
See the full comment at the video of Bloomberg TV Bulgaria
