DIGITAL SKILLS GAPS IN THE BULGARIAN TOURISM INDUSTRY

Abstract

The paper discusses the digital skills gaps in the Bulgarian tourism industry based on mixed methods research. The sample includes 135 respondents to an online questionnaire and 16 interviewees. The findings reveal that key digital literacy skills (dealing with operating systems, MS Office software skills, and skills for adjusting digital equipment) are the top skills both for the current level and for the future needs and they have the lowest skills gaps. Artificial Intelligence and robotic skills, skills related to augmented and virtual reality, and computer programming skills are the lowest-rated skills for their current availability. Although they are expected to grow much in the future, they will remain the three least important skills. On the job training was the most popular digital skills training method but nearly half of respondents reported their companies provided no digital skills training at all.