At a press conference at BTA’s National Press Club in Sofia on Thursday, the Future for Tourism Association called for the regulation governing trips for children and students to be brought into line with current tourism legislation and the new European Directive on package travel.
Association Chair Pavlina Ilieva stressed the need to include educational trips in school curriculum and provide state subsidies in line with the European model.
Among the organization’s other proposals is that, in the procedures for selecting a tour operator, the decision should be based not only on price but also on the quality of the proposals in relation to the educational objectives set.
Ilieva said it was necessary to resolve the contradictions regarding teachers’ travel allowances in the absence of a school budget. The Association proposes that these expenses be formalized through an official document issued by the educational institution or a civil contract if they are covered through the tour operator.
The organization also highlighted the need for the Ministry of Education and Science to issue guidelines on the implementation of the regulation in order to eliminate discrepancies in notification procedures and requirements imposed by the different Regional Education Departments.
The legal acts that would be affected by the proposed amendments include the Tourism Act, in connection with its alignment with the new European Package Travel Directive, the Regulation on Children and Student Tourist Trips with a Package Price, and the Regulation on Business Trips and Specializations in the Country.
Future for Tourism has submitted an official proposal form to the Reform Council established under the Ministry of Tourism. However, Ilieva said that no working group had been set up so far and no substantive work on the proposals had yet begun.
Asparuh Machirski, manager of the Machirski Sport tour operator, said that 80% of children’s and student tourism in Bulgaria operates in the grey economy. He added that tour operators were putting pressure on teachers with attractive offers, with money often being paid in cash without contracts or tax declarations. He also called for all payments to be made exclusively through bank transfers and for permitted travel distances to be differentiated according to the children’s age.
Earlier this week, Ombudsman Velislava Delcheva called for an investigation into the high prices of day trips for students and kindergarten children amid growing dissatisfaction among parents. They have reported offers of EUR 40-50 for short trips, without meals or entrance fees to the sites visited included in the price.
Svidna Dineva, owner and manager of tour operator Loyal Travel, said that schools can organize day trips independently, but all other forms of travel, including multi-day trips, camps, green and white schools, and specialized trips, must by law be organized by a licensed tour operator, Dineva said. She noted that schools are not allowed to engage in commercial activities, which creates difficulties in collecting money from parents and transferring it to service providers, such as transport companies. The regulation requires at least one supervisor for every five to seven kindergarten children and one for every 10 to 15 students in grades 1-12, she added.
On pricing, Dineva said excursion prices cannot be published in advance on travel agencies’ websites because around 90% of school trips are organized on the basis of individual requests and specific requirements from schools.
Diana Blagoeva, Future for Travel Board member, said a lack of transparency fuels conflicts between parents, tour operators and schools. She called for stricter, preliminary checks by the Education Ministry and Regional Education Departments of the documentation submitted by schools, as well as regular inspections by regulators to identify unfair commercial practices, hidden commissions and artificially inflated prices charged by tour operators.
Strict supervision by the Transport Ministry is also required regarding the technical condition of buses, the validity of operators’ licences and compliance with drivers’ rest-period requirements, Blagoeva said.
She added that Bulgaria should introduce rules modelled on those in countries such as Germany and France, where limits are set on the costs of school trips, and where school solidarity funds are in place to support children in financial difficulty. The national regulatory framework governing the organization of day trips also needs to be clarified.
Future for Tourism Association Calls for State Support for School Trips, Regulatory Changes THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-10-22 11:10:26
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