The Bulgarian established Blue Economy sectors employ about 47 000 people and generate around €606 million in GVA. The Blue Economy has had a positive impact on the Bulgarian workforce, employing about 1.5% of the national workforce in 2021. This share has increased on a year-to-year basis (1.2% in 2020). Bulgaria has recorded an increase in contribution of Blue Economy sectors to the overall GVA, moving from 0.9% in 2020 to 1.0% in 2021.
The Bulgarian Blue Economy is dominated by Coastal tourism, which contributes to 59% of Bulgarian Blue Economy jobs and 41% to GVA. The tourism sector has partially recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, with employment and GVA increasing from 48% and 29% in 2020. However, 2021 values are still lower than those recorded pre-Covid (i.e. in 2019, 75% for employment and 63% for GVA).
The sector that employs the second and third biggest shares of blue workers are Marine Living resources (20%) and Shipbuilding and repair. In terms of GVA, Shipbuilding and repair contributes to the second-highest share of GVA (18%), followed by Port activities.
The busiest container ports in Bulgaria are: Port of Burgas (71st busiest port in the EU in terms of gross weight of goods handled) and Port of Varna (81st)
In terms of passengers embarked and disembarked in ports, Burgas ranked 449th and Varna 480th in 2021 in EU.
In 2020, the World Bank published a policy note that reviewed the challenges and opportunities for the Bulgaria’s Blue Economy, with the aim to inform the country’s vision and strategy for transitioning to a blue economy.
Currently, there are few opportunities to acquire education and skills within the country (e.g. Technical University of Varna).
Marine Cluster Bulgaria is a non-government organisation consolidating the efforts of all sectors of the maritime economy in Bulgaria.
For more national level data, please visit the Dashboards section within the EU Blue Economy Observatory, where you can also find information about Educational and Employment opportunities in the Blue Economy sectors.
