Nilfar Nazarova used to work as an accountant in her native Uzbekistan but for the past four summers she has been cleaning hotel rooms in the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Albena.

“The first year, there were very few Uzbeks. Today, around 100 of us come every season, attracted by the stable and regular salaries,” Nazarova, who is in her forties and from the city of Bukhara, told AFP.

“We feel welcomed like family.”

While workers from Central Asia and further afield have been arriving for years in Central and Eastern Europe, many locals of working age have been seeking their fortunes elsewhere since the fall of Communism.

Bulgaria’s population has shrunk by almost a third since 1990 and the country’s tourism sector — which accounts for almost seven percent of the economy — now relies on

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