site.btaTourism Ministry, Hoteliers Discuss Issues with Humanitarian Accommodation Programme for Ukrainians

A delegation from the Ministry of Tourism, led by the caretaker Minister Ilin Dimitrov and deputy Minister Irena Georgieva, held an emergency meeting with representatives of the Sunny Beach hotelier industry to brief them in detail on the accountability issues with the humanitarian programme for accommodating displaced people from Ukraine, the Ministry reported here on Thursday. The hoteliers raised the issue of the delayed funds they received, as well as the smaller amount they received compared to what they were expecting.

Dimitrov assured the industry leaders that the government will fulfil its commitment to them.

The end of May marked the end of the first phase of the humanitarian assistance programme, which provided accommodation and meals in hotels and other accommodation facilities worth BGN 40 per person per day. The second stage, during which each Ukrainian was entitled to BGN 15 per day for accommodation in state-owned resorts, hotels, and other tourist facilities, ended on August 31.

It is yet to be clarified what will happen after this period to the 26,000 Ukrainians accommodated in nearly 1,000 private hotels and state resorts, Deputy Minister Georgieva told the Bulgarian National Television. The task force will decide what will happen after August 31, she added and specified that money is available as there are unspent funds from European programmes.

Minister Dimitrov explained that the programme had numerous problems right from the start, which made accountability very difficult. The delay and discrepancies are the result of lack of data in some of the systems, wrong data entered, and incorrect processing.

Deputy Minister Georgieva, who has been in charge of the humanitarian programme's administration process, described significant work done by the Ministry of Tourism to manually check and compare data submitted by hoteliers, the Ministry of Interior and other channels, on the one hand, and the data available in the Unified Tourist Information System, on the other.

The Tourism Ministry committed to do its best to pay the hoteliers every week or at least several times a month.

At the beginning of November, when payments are expected to have been completed, anyone who notices a discrepancy in the sum paid will be able to lodge a complaint.

The ministry expects that next week the Council of Ministers will decide about the form of the aid and when it will be discontinued. "The Ministry of Tourism insists on the extension of the measure and its implementation in a proper form, because it understands the measure's importance for the tourism sector and its workers, but [the Ministry] will also take into account the decision of the Council of Ministers and the funds available in the budget," Dimitrov said.