Italy’s tourism is eagerly awaiting the spring season, and bookings are picking up. But following the end of the acute period of the pandemic, there is a massive shortage of staff in every nook and corner of the boot – similar to Austria. The industry association Assoturismo Confesercenti estimates that at least 50,000 people are missing from the tourism industry.
In 2022, the number of nights spent in Italian tourist accommodation reached a high of 400 million, and the trend also seems favorable for 2023, both in terms of domestic and foreign tourism. However, the industry’s growth prospects are clouded by a lack of employees.
“The difficulty of finding staff has now taken on structural forms and has reached the dimension of a real emergency. It is thus impossible to cope with peak loads, especially in some areas such as the seaside resorts of the northern Adriatic. But also in Sicily and Sardinia there are problems,” explained Vittorio Messina, president of the association, who is planning a meeting with the government to discuss the problems facing the sector.
A need for around 210,000 workers in the tourism industry is expected for the spring months. But workers are difficult to find: in 34 percent of cases, tourism companies complain of difficulties in finding skilled workers, not only due to insufficient preparation, but also increasingly due to a lack of applicants. That percentage rises to 52 percent in the hospitality industry. In particular, unqualified jobs such as waitresses, dishwashers and cleaners are difficult to find.
Tourism Minister Daniela Santanché is looking for solutions. “We need to appeal to the younger generations by showing them how stimulating it is to work in the diverse tourism sector. To this end, we will launch a targeted communication campaign,” commented Santanchè, according to the media.
Italy plans to give more immigration permits to foreign workers to combat staff shortages. “This year we will work to bring around 500,000 legal immigrants to the country. This can also be organized through multilateral and bilateral agreements to support legal immigration,” said Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida. Seasonal workers are urgently needed, especially in agriculture and tourism, he said.
