Hotel operators say staff shortages are the biggest challenge

No rise in prices in the hotel industry is to be expected until the end of the year, and wherever a price rise is planned, it will not exceed 10%. However, hotel operators say they are not expecting any improvement in the business environment. This is indicated by the data from a traditional national survey among managers and hotel owners conducted by the Bulgarian Association of Hotel Executives at the end of the first six months of the year. 70% of the respondents point to staff shortages as the main problem hotel operators face, for a little under one-fifth the challenge is the rise in costs, and 10% say the problem is the drop in the number of tourists on the market that is traditional for the hotel in question, says the association’s chairman Georgi Duchev.  Even though they are relying on the import of staff, a growing number of hotel operators say this solution as not sustainable. The share of hotel operators who plan on hiring university and school students has gone up compared to last year.