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At the height of the summer season, the tourism sector in Greece is facing a new test, and this time it is not called COVID-19. Although the pandemic is directly involved in shaping the difficulties for the hotel and restaurant business in the country.
After two years of complete and partial closures, tightening and weakening of anti-epidemic measures, introduction and cancellation of the COVID certificates, tourism in our southern neighbor has prepared in 2022 to return the old numbers of vacationers on the beach.
Preferably, in the 2019 version, which brought 18 billion euros in annual income to the country from summer tourists alone. At the start, the prerequisites for a successful summer spoke in favor of the Greek economy – most of the restrictions on tourists have been removed, the complexes are working at full capacity again, and the temperatures are emerging as typical for June, July and August.
However, the months for Greek tourism will not be cloudless, because the sector is experiencing a drastic shortage of personnel. At a time when bookings are falling, the tourism industry is struggling to find 50,000 workers to fill jobs at local hotels, bars and restaurants. And as the season progresses, the difficulty of finding sufficiently qualified employees becomes more acute.
The problem is seen as a paradox by labor experts in Greece, who say the outflow is taking place amid record youth unemployment figures in the country.
Earlier this year, a Eurostat survey showed that Greece tops the list for youth unemployment with 36.8% of citizens between the ages of 18 and 25 neither studying nor working. In second place was Spain with 12.7%, which is also experiencing a problem with tourist staff this summer, according to the Guardian.
“Many European countries are faced with the impossibility of filling their jobs in the tourism sector. Due to the pandemic, hotels and restaurants have closed, and employees have oriented themselves to other sectors from which they can make a living,” Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias told Politico , quoted by “Webcafe”.
According to the employees themselves, some of whom choose to be unemployed rather than work as bartenders and waiters, the real reason for the tourism staff shortage is another.
“I was forced to leave because they changed my contract from eight hours to four hours. I had to walk 40 kilometers twice a day for €2.50 an hour. I might have continued working if they hadn’t cut my tips , but the management at the hotel refused to accept tips from their workers,” says a 45-year-old waitress in the tourism business, who identifies herself only with the initials M.
According to her, the industry thought it could replace the staff who left with students who were more willing to take 12-hour shifts without claiming their salary.
However, the holiday season is shaping up to be a busy one, and employers worry that the inexperience of young bartenders and waiters will damage their image as a classy tourist destination.
“Whatever happens, we must sift the wheat from the chaff. We must provide jobs that guarantee development. Otherwise, quality tourism is in danger. We cannot help but be interested in whether the chef knows how to cook and whether the receptionist speaks foreign languages fluently languages,” commented Andreas Andreadis, honorary president of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), to France 24.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is of the same opinion, who announced earlier this month that the Labor Ministry had approved the introduction of a collective agreement for food industry workers, which would fix their working conditions.
The formalization of the situation is expected to fill the vacancies as the season progresses. Ukrainian refugees can also be a lifeline for tourism. Although the data so far do not speak of a mass distribution of the Ukrainians who arrived in Greece to the busy vacation spots, the Minister of Tourism is hopeful that with the appointment of the refugees, the country will hit two birds with one stone.
“These people need quality work and a decent way of life. If they meet the standards and do not discredit the tourism product, why not help with the shortage of personnel,” commented Kikilias.
Businesses in Cyprus have already tried the tactic of attracting refugees, but they say they are hitting a snag among them too, as the majority of Ukrainians are either mothers with children or elderly people unable to work in the intense conditions of the Greek summer season.
In addition, businesses claim that they need permits when hiring foreign labor, and not all of the refugees and migrants in the country have such a document.
There is no easy way out of the shortage of employees. But the entire sector is unanimous that a quick and workable response must be found, because the last thing Greece wants to risk with rising inflation is its lucrative tourism.
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