Tourism: Barrage of incentives to attract employees

The deficiencies in staff called to work in hotels and other tourism businesses is not only a Greek phenomenon but affects the labor market and businesses in the sector in many parts of the world. From America to Japan and Eastern Europe, including Greece and Cyprus, hotel businesses seem to lack the number of workers they would like. So they turn to providing greater incentives, such as higher wages and additional benefits, as the tourist season approaches and competition increases.

In the US, even after hiring hundreds of thousands in the hotel industry over the past two years, there are still staff shortages, according to new data from the Wall Street Journal.

These are positions from cleaning services to reception. To attract more people to work, businesses in the sector offer increased wages.

American hotels will collectively pay $123 billion in employee benefits this year, up 20 percent from 2019, according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association.

Employment in the lodging sector is down 9% since the start of 2020, according to official US data. Workers are often reluctant to return to the hotel industry after the mass layoffs in 2020. Many also switched to other industries with big pay increases.

The same is largely true in Europe, where the pandemic has significantly changed the market, with the result that many workers will not return to the sector after finding employment elsewhere.

In Japan, the supply of part-time hotel jobs has reached an all-time high due to shortages of full-time and part-time workers, according to data from the country’s industry-specific website Travelvoice.jp.

The continuous increase of more and more visitors to the country has increased the demand for workers in the hotel industry, especially as many of them are gradually preparing to open ahead of the new season. Demand for more experienced workers includes those with experience in housekeeping and cleaning, event management, restaurants, guides and translators.

In Southern and Eastern Europe the phenomenon is stronger due to increased tourism. One of the examples is Cyprus where staff shortages are affecting the sector ahead of the tourist season. Executives in the country’s tourism industry are now calling on the government to take action, especially regarding employment opportunities for foreigners in hotels and other businesses they say. In Greece, where tourism remains at consistently high levels, there are corresponding challenges, with the number estimated to be in immediate need of the industry at around 30,000 workers.