The euphoria unleashed among companies in the tourism sector by a record season both in terms of prices and demand contrasts with the concern to find qualified workers to attend to the great wave of travelers that is starting to arrive in Spain these days. The problem comes from afar, it was exacerbated by the pandemic and remains unresolved. In fact, the lack of experienced staff is more noticeable now that tourists are returning in droves, as warned this week by the CEO of the Meliá hotel, Gabriel Escarrer.
"The lack of qualified personnel is a reality and with increasing competition between companies to attract talent we are facing a great risk for our sector, since for us people are essential", the manager wrote on his account from LinkedIn. Escarrer's diagnosis is shared by the vast majority of the tourism industry, as executives from some of the main companies warned in the last edition of Fitur. The difficulty will be finding employees with previous training in the sector and retaining them. The turnover of templates is excessive, with all that that implies.
"It is not easy to find workers, especially in positions that require training and experience. But it is true that today the teams are complete, especially thanks to the fixed and intermittent fixed workers, who are the ones who cover the most qualified professional positions", they explain from the hotel company Riu. The problem, they emphasize from this company, will reach the peak of the season, "when other hotels, bars and other businesses that need professionals open. Then there is usually a process of dismissals and dismissals at the worst possible moment".
Difficulties increase in territories with a very tight housing market, with little supply of flats and very high prices, such as the Balearic Islands, Gabriel Escarrer pointed out. From Riu they also emphasize that in the Canary Islands there is a constant lack of professionals in qualified positions. They say that there is mainly a lack of kitchen, bar and canteen workers, not of assistant or helper positions, but of staff with experience and able to assume positions of responsibility. "Historically, we have opted for on-the-job training and, in view of the lack of professionals, we continue to need to train staff at the hotel itself to later be able to cover the higher-ranking categories", they say.
Gonzalo Alcaraz, Hesperia's general business manager, confirms that the sector "is a bit tense in terms of hiring and there is a lot of competition". He considers, however, that the workers value being part of projects of value and with a weight in the premium and luxury segment, "which undoubtedly brings us stability in the case of Hesperia". The hotel company has also activated training programs that allow it to attract and retain talent. Meliá, for its part, has anticipated recruitment programs in sensitive areas, has intensified the relationship with vocational schools and universities and has deployed a program to reconnect with staff who disengaged from the sector during the pandemic and looked for work in other branches of activity In the Balearic Islands, it has even gone so far as to offer accommodation to some employees.
Mónica Pérez, Director of Studies at InfoJobs, emphasizes that close to 3% of people employed in tourism who lost their jobs during the covid crisis left the sector definitively and have not rejoined to this activity. In this regard, the latest report on the labor market by Infojobs and Esade indicates a "growing imbalance between supply and demand" in tourism "which is creating difficulties in the recruitment of professionals. If we take the long term, in 2022 there were almost 35,000 fewer candidates in tourism and catering than in 2019”, with a similar level of offers.
"It is a sector with demanding working conditions in terms of schedules and companies have reacted to the problems to find workers by slightly increasing salaries, in a context of salary moderation, tourism has increased salaries by 5%", comments Mónica Pérez. According to the analysis by Infojobs and Esade, the average salary offered in tourism and catering in 2022 was 19,166 euros per year, 5.1% more than in 2021, the strongest increase among all the branches of activity studied. However, it is the third sector with the lowest average wages offered, behind only customer service and retail sales.
"There is no lack of workers, what is missing are better working conditions and higher salaries", says Francisco Galván, manager of CC.OO Hospitality. Catalonia The union has analyzed the Social Security affiliation data and considers that the positions that are not covered are marked by precariousness. Meanwhile, the sector continues to lead job creation in Spain, with more members in February than in the same month of 2020, before the pandemic - see the graph -. Retaining these workers seems like the big task at hand.
