As hotel occupancy rates rebound thanks to a boost from last-minute bookings, a familiar challenge for the industry is resurfacing with even greater intensity. That of the labor shortage.

“First of all, there’s always a shortage. Second, as you know, back in April, hotels were facing very low occupancy rates. Consequently, they hadn’t hired all the staff they would theoretically need. Now that they’re seeing occupancy rates improve, hoteliers will start hiring people who are in Cyprus and looking for work, and they’ll try to bring in people from outside Cyprus as well.”
Thanos Michaelides – President of PASYXE

This is a particularly difficult undertaking, given the scale of the needs that exist through October. According to the President of PASYXE, the tourism industry as a whole may need up to 2,000 additional workers.

“We also need to consider this in relation to the specific roles each hotelier is looking to fill. Usually, these are in restaurants, kitchens, and housekeeping—that’s where most people are employed, and it’s directly linked to occupancy rates.”
Thanos Michailidis

Declining Interest

Another factor in the equation is the apparent decline in interest among locals.

“If you look at the data we have from hotel management schools, as well as from several colleges and universities that offer hotel management programs, we’ll see that over the past three years there has been a downward trend, with the exception of one or two colleges and universities. This downward trend is because no one is interested in local staff or in how we should attract them.”
Neophytos Timinis – General Secretary of the PEO Hotel Workers’ Union

Neophytos Timinis also points out that, due to the new policy on workers from third countries, in some hotels there will be more of them than local staff by the end of the season. Complaints about the hiring of workers are also coming to light.

“In other words, a company has ten workers from third countries, and it ‘rents’ these workers out to Hotel A and Hotel B at a specific wage rate. This is prohibited.”

An additional challenge for hotel businesses is the shortage of certified lifeguards. PASYXE and STEK are calling for the immediate development of a comprehensive national strategy to address the problem, the provision of incentives for young people, students, and the unemployed, and the exploration of practical solutions to meet these needs without compromising safety.

Watch the report by Rafaella Stavrinou: