Tourism businesses in Greece struggle with acute staff shortages and rising costs

The pandemic caused hospitality workers in Greece to seek work elsewhere, and the industry’s low pay and long hours is no enticement for them to return

Greek hotels and restaurants are understaffed, which, combined with rising costs, spells trouble for a sector that brings in 25 per cent of the national income

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Tourists at a restaurant in the old town of Chania on Crete, where the tourist season has started but many operators face an acute shortage of staff. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:45pm, 28 Apr 2022Updated: 9:55pm, 28 Apr 2022

Chryssa Vertakis’ three-star Crete hotel is nearly booked up this summer, but her guests will have to eat elsewhere because her kitchen has no cooks.

Hotel owners across Greece are facing acute staff shortages after two years of pandemic restrictions that have seen droves of hospitality workers seek employment elsewhere.

The key industry – which provides a quarter of Greece’s national income – relies largely on foreign staff to work as waiters, cleaners, busboys and cooks. Many Bulgarians working as cleaners in Vertakis’ hotel Alexia Beach went home during last year’s lockdown, and did not return, she says.

Greeks have also sought jobs in other sectors in response to Covid-shortened seasons that compounded existing grievances over working hours and low pay.

Tourists check the menu at a restaurant in the old town of Chania in Crete. Many tourist-dependent businesses are grappling with an acute shortage of staff. Photo: AFP

“Seasonal employees cannot support their families on three or four months of work [per year],” Nikos Kokolakis, chairman of hotel workers in Crete’s capital Heraklion, told state TV ERT on Wednesday.