Poor infrastructure and lack of state-backed advertising campaigns are among the main problems facing Bulgaria's tourist industry, said Katya Stoyanova, executive director of Dunav Tours, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.
 
Dunav Tours, which is the only Bulgarian company that owns passenger ships, has been "hard hit by the decrepit road infrastructure and the derelict state of the Rousse marinas," she said,
 
The company, which until recently was heavily engaged in international tourism, has recently initiated a switch towards the domestic one, and has encountered serious obstacles, which, she claims, are common for every tourist branch in the country.
 
Subsequently, the firm has been participating in international tourist bourses because of the lack of state support for the Bulgarian tourist brand, she said.
 
"Tourist cadres are inadequately prepared and must be given additional training in professionally established educational centres which will serve the needs of the industry as a whole," she said.  
 
Members of various firms in Rousse told Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Plugchieva on June 19 that "Bulgaria’s participation in the private organisation ‘Dunav Tourist Commission’ ought to be supported by the state".
 
Further complications originate from the fact that Bulgaria had ceased paying its membership fee to the Vienna-based organisation, resulting in an accumulated debt of more than 60 000 euro. In the past, the head of the state tourist agency, Anelia Krushkova, had suggested that the Rousse tourist branch should generate one third of the funds because the Vienna-based organisation is a private entity. The remaining two thirds, she stipulated, would be state supplied.  
 
This concept, however, has not progressed past the theoretical stage since and neither side has apparently raised the required funds.
 
"An alternative solution would be to provide the funds through the association of the Dunav cities" said Rousse’s deputy mayor, Alexander Nedelchev.