Sea resorts that have centers for health tourism started working earlier, but the question is how much interest there is, as the main tourists at this time of the year are Bulgarian and from neighboring countries, Katsarova also said according to Bloomberg. An increase in customers is still expected, and the problem facing hotels is the training of staff. There is an initiative that urges the people’s representatives to make it easier to issue documents to workers from third countries because it is needed by resort businesses.
Israel is a big market for Bulgaria for health tourism, but due to the ongoing escalation in the Middle East, there are no tourists from the region. She explained that it is difficult to make up for this loss, hoping to find a solution, as enrollments are currently close to the critical zero.
More and more municipalities are developing as destinations for health tourism, and this is where the key role of the state comes in, as there are destinations where the mineral water almost runs out, and permits continue to be issued. In addition, there is a need to rehabilitate the infrastructure related to mineral waters. Climatic changes affect not only our country, but also all over the world, as a number of resorts around the world are starting to offer alternatives to skiing in their ski resorts because of the high temperatures.
It is important to have a targeted advertising campaign aimed at specific markets, promoting Bulgaria and its destinations as attractive. The guest explained that they are currently working on such a campaign in Austria, having laid the first contractual foundations with private insurance companies in the country.
“Bulgaria has so much to give to Europe. Especially in the era of drought in South America and floods around the world. At the moment, the climate is good with us, we have winter, but for a short time for sure. Balneology and health tourism enable year-round work at the destinations, and this is extremely important, because tourism is done with people. These are specialists who have been trained for years by our educational system, and we must provide them with year-round work.”
We lack health prevention programs related to the country’s mineral resources, unlike Bulgaria’s neighboring countries, in which prevention can be carried out in centers and not in hospitals.
“The NOI program is a very small step in this direction, and in fact the Bulgarian is discriminated against.” The topic of prevention is very important and this would give us an opportunity to support local economies. There is a natural resource throughout the country, and with a little help, many of the mayors can rehabilitate their infrastructure.”
The expert believes that this is due to neglect and disrespect of the sector as an important part of healthcare. Other Western countries have programs that allow prevention in similar centers through their health insurance.
Bulgaria, with its quality-price ratio, is establishing itself as a spa destination on the world map, but we are still not recognizable. Here comes the role of the state and municipalities to develop in this direction. The partnership between education and business is key for the sector, but the priority should be the protection of mineral waters and the maintenance of infrastructure.
