By the end of the summer season, various tourism companies could declare bankruptcy because of the lack of qualified staff.

The deficit reached for the first time a third of all people needed to work in the resorts, chair of the Varna Tourism Chamber Marin Neshkov said as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

The problem has been aggravating for years. Initially resorts missed waiters, cooks and maids. Over the past two years resorts suffer from the lack of managers, as well.

In the end of May, the hospitality association of Dobrich started looking for employees from Romania. Association data shows that nearly 100 foreigners have applied for a job in Bulgaria.

Offering better wages was one of the ways to deal with the situation, Neshkov said. Low wages force a number of qualified Bulgarian employees to look for a job abroad.

Investors also suffer from poor business planning and the demand for qualified staff has exceeded supply several times, Neshkov said.

Another factor aggravating the situation is the appearance of numerous quality hotels. Employees of such hotels should have specialised skills, Neskov said.