Tour guides want clear rules for work during the coronavirus pandemic

Tour guides from Bulgaria’s coastal city of Varna insist on clear rules for work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The industry is on the verge of bankruptcy and unless urgent action is taken, many tour guides will be forced to give up their profession. They also hope to receive financial help from the state in order to survive during the difficult situation in which tourism in the country is.

Snezhana Atanasova, tour guide: Our income for the year is mainly formed during the summer season, which begins in mid-March and ends around mid-October. For the months when we can't work, we would not be able to survive in the winter.

Most tour guides cannot take advantage of the 60/40 measure, because they are free lancers (according to the 60/40 measure, the state will finance 60% of the insurable income of employees remaining on payroll during the coronavirus crisis if the employer contributes the remaining 40%)

Only 5% of them work on contracts of employment. Longer-term measures are needed for the industry to survive.

Snezhana Atanasova: Tour guides should be entitled to compensation in the Unemployment Office during the inactive tourist season in order to be able to remain as specialists in the industry.

Tour guides also hope for clear rules for the organised trips in the summer, including about the wearing of masks and other anti-epidemic measures. They insist that all health and safety measures concerning organised travels be published on the Ministry of Tourism’s website.