Almost unanimously – 97% of hoteliers in Bulgaria say they experience difficulties, to varying degrees, in attracting staff for their establishments, according to a national survey on the hotel industry labour market conducted in October by the Hotel & Tourism Investment Forum (HTIF) and received by BTA on Friday. For about half of them, the problem has reached crisis proportions. 90% of respondents expect the staffing situation to deteriorate further in 2026.
The survey involved owners and managers of hotels and hotel groups managing a total of some 23,000 rooms across establishments with more than 15 rooms (thus excluding guesthouses and short-term rental apartments) and rated between two and five stars.
In two-thirds of the hotels, foreign staff account for less than 10% of the workforce, while one in four employ only Bulgarian nationals. More than half of the hoteliers who hire foreigners say they are generally satisfied with their performance.
The most sought-after staff in 2025 are cooks (70%), followed by chambermaids (66%), waiters (55%), receptionists (45%), technical staff (24%), and bartenders (18%).
The leading cause of the labour shortage is lack of motivation to work in the sector (60%), followed by demographic factors (42%), high employee turnover (40%), the seasonal nature of work (40%), and insufficiently attractive pay (33%), the survey shows.
To address the personnel crisis, 65% of respondents suggest engaging students and high school pupils through internships and employment programmes, while 50% recommend raising salaries to make them competitive with other sectors. Importing foreign labour ranks third among proposed solutions (47%), followed by automation and digitalization to optimize the role of human labour (37%). Nearly All Bulgarian Hoteliers Report Difficulties Recruiting Staff, National Survey Shows THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2025-10-22 17:40:09 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
