site.bta Nearly All Bulgarian Hoteliers Report Difficulties Recruiting Staff, National Survey Shows

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%).