College of Tourism

It is a great pleasure and a special privilege to welcome you to the web page of the College of Tourism at University of Economics – Varna. This is Bulgaria’s oldest higher school of tourism soon marking 60 years of great legacy.

Our mission is to help students become competitive tourism professionals and successful individuals. That’s why our goal is to offer students an inspiring and pro-active learning environment. This is an environment in which students develop competences and skills that help them pursue successful careers in the tourism and leisure industry. In addition, students are also able to tackle the challenges of contemporary society and contribute to its development.

We teach our students and conduct research in close collaboration with the tourism business, non-governmental organizations, the leisure industry businesses, and certainly with the strong support of University of Economics – Varna.

The values that unite us, inspire us, and create a distinctive collegiate atmosphere are the values of embracing tolerance, encouraging creativity, seeking improvement and showing care to students and alumni, current and former academic staff, customers, partners, and guests of our College of Tourism, Varna and Bulgaria!

The College of Tourism – Varna is an integral part of University of Economics – Varna. It comprises the Department of Tourism and the Department of Foreign Languages ​​and Communication in Tourism. Its predecessor was the International Tourism Institute, which was established in 1963 as Bulgaria’s first higher school that specialised in training professionals in the tourism, hospitality and leisure industries.

Originally named the International Tourism Training Centre and established in 1963 at Sofia Hotel in Golden Sands, Varna, with training facilities similar to those in Du Midi Hotel in Davos, Switzerland, the International Tourism Institute was rebranded in 1965. In 1997 the Institute was transformed into the College of Tourism, an independent training organisation sharing teaching practices with University of Economics – Varna. In 1999 the College became an integral part of the University.

The College trains executive and middle management in two vocational programmes: Tourism and Leisure Management, and Hospitality Management.

College graduates receive vocational bachelor degrees, which are fully compliant with the European standards of vocational higher education in three years of training and 180 credits.  Graduates may pursue vocational master degrees in Tourism.

Every year over 700 students are trained at the College of Tourism. They are highly competitive in the job market and pursue successful careers locally and internationally. In 60 years, almost 10,000 professionals have been trained full- time and 3,500 professionals part-time at the College of Tourism.