A lack of qualified specialists is a problem in the tourism industry in Bulgaria.

Waitresses, cooks and housekeepers are needed at local hotels, Bulgarian-language daily Standart reported on March 5.

Because local bartenders and waitresses prefer to work abroad where they can earn three or four times the amount they are paid in Bulgaria, Thai, Indonesian and ethnic Bulgarians from Bessarabia (part of Moldova) are to be recruited to work at Bulgarian Black sea resorts.

The newspaper said that employers said that the imported workers were better qualified, had longer work experience and clients were satisfied with their service. Moreover, the Asians spoke English flawlessly and took their duties more seriously because they knew that failure would mean having to return to their countries.

Employers said that foreigners agreed to be paid lower salaries than Bulgarians, and would not lie to their employers or steal from them, Standart said.

Seaside resort waitresses get about 250 leva plus four per cent of turnover. According to the labour remuneration statistics, their basic salaries were between 180 and 190 leva. Even though annually about 7000 people are given work at the resorts, there is always a lack of well-trained bartenders, cooks and administrators.

“This year we decided to hire people of Bulgarian origin from Moldova, Ukraine, Macedonia and Romania,” said Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (BHRA) boss Blagoy Ragin. Trade schools and universities in these countries, and hospitality industry people, were interested in the employment opportunities offered in Bulgaria, he said.

Labour and Social Policy Minister Emilia Maslarova and BHRA members from the town of Dobrich were requested to facilitate work permits for the Moldovans. The head of the regional tourism structure in Dobrich, Dimitar Dimitrov, said that the region alone needed 1700 waitresses, cooks, housekeepers and other staff for summer 2007.

Research by the World Economic Forum placed Bulgaria 54th in the world, according to its criteria of conditions for tourism development. Immediately before Bulgaria were Turkey and Latvia. Romania was 22 places behind, while heading the list were Switzerland, Austria and Germany, Standart said on March 3.