Study: 70,000 Jobs Still Open as Greek Tourism Season Starts

The Greek tourism season has started with 70,000 jobs still open, found a recent study released by INSETE, the Greek Tourism Confederation’s (SETE) research body.

According to study findings, despite an 89 percent increase in tourist inflows in 2022 to 27.8 million compared to 2021, tourism enterprises are still short of staff. Indicative of the situation, in 2022, the Greek hotel sector operated with 60,000 job vacancies or one in five.

At the same time, World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) President & CEO Julia Simpson said the Greek tourism sector was set to create more than 17,000 jobs this year, reaching the 2019 peak of 820,000 employed by the sector.

Other key takeaways of the study:

-more than 10 percent of employees in Greece are occupied in F&B and hospitality in the summer months or 376,000 employees in 2022, accounting for 9.1 percent of all jobs

-during the summer peak season (June-August), accommodation facilities and F&B businesses account for 10.6 percent of total employment compared to 8.1 percent in 2013, 10.4 percent in 2017 and 10.8 percent in 2019

-in the 2013-2022 period, employment in accommodation and F&B increased annually at a rate of 4.2 percent

-employees in hospitality are aged 45-64 and 30-44 accounting for 69.2 percent of all employees

– in the 2013-2022 period, the percentage of employees in the 15-24 and 45-64 age groups increased

– the majority of those employed in accommodation and F&B are males

– in 2022, the regions of Attica (27.4 percent) and Central Macedonia (15.4 percent) accounted for the highest shares of employees in accommodation and F&B followed by Crete (9.4 percent) and the South Aegean (8.0 percent).

Looking ahead and in view of increasing investments in tourism enterprises in the coming years which will create new jobs combined with growing arrivals and the need for specialized personnel, INSETE analysts underline that addressing the issue of staff shortages should be a top priority for tourism policy makers.

Earlier this year, the Greek government announced that it would grant a total of 167,925 residence permits to third country nationals for the 2023-2024 period thus allowing tourism enterprises to hire employees from third countries to meet staffing needs and addresses the growing problem of staff shortages.

Staff shortages in the tourism sector is a challenge for many countries besides Greece. A recent study presented at ITB Berlin revealed that 68 percent of travel and tourism enterprises globally are currently understaffed while 88 percent of the industry acknowledges workforce deficiencies.

According to a previous INSETE study these will be the 10 high-in-demand  professions/skills in Greek tourism in the coming years: travel agency professional, tour guide, specialist travel advisor for emerging markets, specialist travel consultant, general manager of hospitality operations, public relations manager in hospitality, hotel receptionist, hotel reservations clerk, experiences creation manager, pricing policy professional.

The Greek Travel Pages has a dedicated online job-find service that helps tourism industry enterprises and job placement services in Greece find the right people. If you’re looking for a job in the Greek tourism industry, check out GTP Careers in Tourism.