Over 75% of hoteliers in Bulgaria are against the introduction of mandatory inspections of guests for COVID certificates, say the organizers of the Hotel Forum, which is the largest professional meeting in tourism in Bulgaria.
They organized a national survey among the owners and managers of almost all hotels in the country with category 3 and more stars – 1230 hotels, and received answers from 125 of them in five days.
A majority of 76% of respondents believe that the introduction of mandatory checks for a COVID certificate, known as a “green passport” (certificate that the bearer has been vaccinated, COVID-19 or with a negative coronavirus test), when visiting hotels and restaurants is not a good idea and would rather lead to a boycott of hotels by customers than to stimulate the vaccination process in the country.
Asked whether they agreed that the funds provided for the Tourism sector in the updated state budget – BGN 60 million, should be used to stimulate the vaccination campaign by issuing tourist vouchers to newly vaccinated Bulgarians, nearly three quarters – 72,6% of the respondents answered that they rather disagree with this proposal, giving in the comments to the survey various proposals for more efficient distribution of these funds.
The question “How do you think the 16 percent of already vaccinated Bulgarians will perceive a possible campaign to promote vaccination by issuing tourist vouchers, given that they have not used and will not use any benefits from it?” Divides the respondents into two ideal halves. 40% believe that the already vaccinated Bulgarians will feel disappointed and dissatisfied, which will call into question the final effect of the campaign, and 40% believe that such a campaign would hardly create tension in the ranks of those already vaccinated. Nearly 20% of those who completed the survey could not assess the effect of such a campaign.
Nearly 43% of the participants in the survey manage city (business) hotels, 35% seaside holiday hotels, 8% are representatives of mountain holiday hotels and 7.2% of spa and wellness accommodation. 5% manage hotel groups with different types of hotels.
32% of respondents have the position of “general manager”, 30% are “owners/investors” and just under a quarter are complex managers.
In terms of categorization, 3-star hotels predominate (45%), followed by 4-star (33%) and 5-star (14%).
Over 80% of the respondents manage small and medium-sized hotels – up to 200 rooms, while the representatives of large hotels, with over 200 rooms, make up just under 20% of the respondents.