Green Skills Gap in the Bulgarian Tourism Industry

Abstract

Green skills are crucial for the sustainable development of tourism and hospitality companies and significantly contribute to their overall performance. This study explores the green skills gaps in the Bulgarian tourism industry and the expectations of business professionals regarding the green skill needs of tourism employees in the next decade. The study applies a mixed-methods approach; the final samples include 135 respondents to a questionnaire and 16 interviewees. The results reveal serious gaps in green skills among tourism employees in Bulgaria, which need to be addressed by relevant and regular training. A comparison of the five tourism subsectors show that representatives from the food and beverage (F&B) subsector have a completely different attitude about green skills related to current and future needs. Still, the tourism subsector type was not shown to influence the absolute gaps between the current and required future skills level. Furthermore, as a whole, company size was not shown to be a predictor of the variation in respondents' answers.