The serious economic crisis and the disbalance between the demands and the situation on the labour market in Bulgaria determine the necessity for increasing the qualification of large number of people. One of the sectors that suffer the most from a lack of qualified employees is tourism.

This project of International College Ltd. gave an opportunity for 60 unemployed people, registered in Dobrich district, to undergo a serious training course and get qualification in accordance with the European Labour Market. Professions like "Waiter-Bartender", "Cook", "Hotel-keeper"and 'Restaurant-keeper" were selected to give an opportunity to those, successfully finished the course, to find their successful realization in life.

The attractive teaching programme as well as the practice-oriented courses attracted a large number of candidates. 494 applications were filed in the Labour Offices in Dobrich, General Toshevo and Balchik. That means that there were 8 applications for each vacancy. The competition contributed to the qualitative selection of the applicants.

International College Ltd. puts an emphasis on the high level of education. An up-to-date professional kitchen and restaurant equipment was especially provided for the aims of the project. It gave the participants an opportunity to dive in the real atmosphere of an European restaurant in an effort to improve their competitiveness on the labour market.

Apart from this, the participants had an opportunity to enroll in a preliminary test of the new teaching plans and books in the specialties of "Guest relations" and "E-marketing". Those two specialties are going to be more and more implemented in the modern education in the field of tourism, especially in Bulgaria. It is obvious that one of the biggest disadvantages of Bulgarian tourist product is the low level of service. In the modern competitive environment every guest is important and must feel special. E-marketing has a leading place because more and more of the sales are done in the Internet. If one doesn't have a sufficient online presence, then they simply vanish from the map of the market. Unfortunately, although the big practical use of those two niches in tourism, they are still officially out of the list of professions for professional training and education. That is why the team of the project wants to submit an offer to NAVET to endorse them in the framework of the existing list of professional trends and professions.

The project is financed by Programme "Human Resources Development and Promotion of Employment".

Period of realization:  December 2008 - November 2009