The Association of Tourist Enterprises of Cyprus (STEK) is sounding the alarm, as the difficulty of finding staff in the hotel sector, as it states, is huge, resulting in threats to both the quality of services provided and the ability of hotel units to serve more customers. from 2021.
As STEK notes in its announcement, the problem of lack of human resources is a top priority, since the vacancies in most jobs in hotel units are huge.
According to STEK, the problem pre-existed from 2019 but in 2021 it worsened significantly. Many Community workers have returned to their countries of origin due to uncertainty and the creation of new jobs in their home countries. At the same time, Cypriot workers found work in other sectors of economic activity, which have developed in recent years.
"The lack of human resources is an international and not just a Cypriot phenomenon. Indicatively, similar problems are found in many European countries such as Germany, Greece, Italy, France, Austria, the United Kingdom. "The problem has also been recognized at the level of the European Parliament, which recently asked the European Commission by 31 January 2022 to submit proposals to facilitate and promote the entry and mobility of workers from third countries into the EU."
The president of STEK, Akis Vavlitis states that "already, this year there was a significant problem and although the occupancy rates ranged on average only 40% -50%, some units were under-operated. "In 2022, when we hope that occupancy will increase, if the data on labor are not differentiated, the situation will be worse and the risk of not being able to meet the needs of tourists is completely visible."
He adds that although the uncertainty surrounding pandemic issues - such as the new "Omicron" mutation - is high, the issue of labor shortages is considered the most important since, if the pandemic, as we hope, allows, in practice hotel units will not be able to cater to any increased tourist flows.
Given that the process for hiring workers from third countries takes several months to implement, STEK calls on the Ministry of Labor to immediately announce a plan that allows and facilitates this process. In case of further delay, STEK expresses its concern that the new tourist season of 2022 will be really endangered.