There are 15 thousand workers missing in the hotel industry in Portugal (with audio) – O Jornal Económico
At the press conference that precedes the start of work at the 32nd National Congress of Hotels and Tourism, promoted by AHP, which will run until Friday in Albufeira, Raul Martins explained that the number comes from an estimate based on preliminary results of a study that the association carried out with its members and which it will present after the congress.
According to the vice-president of AHP, Cristina Siza Vieira, 60% of the members, representing 35 thousand rooms, responded to the survey – “an unextrapolated sample”. That is, 400 hotels, independent “current needs reveal 7,200 workers in short supply”. Raul Martins believes that taking into account the total number of hotel units in Portugal – 1,200 – “it is estimated, making a proportion, that there are 15,000 workers missing” in hotels operating in the national market.
Cristina Siza Vieira also said that from the responses received, “about two thirds” place that the greatest need for workers is linked in the areas of “reception, table and kitchen”.
Then there are some specifics by region. For example, “in Lisbon there is a lot of emphasis on the lack of work in the area of human and administrative resources”, while in the North “there is a lack of workers in the SPA”.
On September 25, the president of the Portuguese Tourism Confederation (CTP) admitted, in an interview with Lusa, that the problem of lack of human resources exists, because it was actually being ‘sexy’ to work in the sector, but with the pandemic “ everything was frozen”.
“There is, in fact, a lack of staff [no setor do turismo], there is no doubt, this is a problem we face. It is a problem that we have to address very directly and it is a subject that has been much discussed in the CTP survey”, said Francisco Calheiros, in an interview with Lusa.
“I was being ‘sexy’ at the time [antes da pandemia], it was becoming fashionable to work in tourism. With this pandemic, everything was frozen”, added the official.
Francisco Calheiros believes that the tourism sector in Portugal is playing in the ‘League of Champions’, in an analogy to football, contributing that the sector “has to be Ronaldo”, in other words, “the spearhead of the Portuguese economy”.
For the president of the CTP, the attractiveness of a sector of the economy, in terms of human resources, appears when the sector becomes a “winner”, which must also be “associated with higher salaries”.
On October 18, the president of Vila Galé also told Lusa that the group continues to struggle with the lack of human resources in hotels, construction and agriculture, preview hiring 300 young people looking for their first job and bringing 150 workers from Brazil.
Speaking to Lusa, Jorge Rebelo de Almeida said that this year there are improved difficulties in recruiting for operational functions in the units and that, therefore, at the beginning of 2022 the group will start a recruitment plan that should include several initiatives from hiring young people looking for their first job, curricular internships and exchange programs between Portugal and Brazil, where the group owns 10 hotels.
The AHP Congress to discuss the sector, namely the issue of lack of human resources, an old problem, will run until Friday in Albufeira. The “Tourism has a Future” and “New beginning, new thinking: the vision of outsiders!” it is the panels that open and close the congress.
The vice president of AHP, Cristina Siza Vieira, told Lusa that the 32nd National Congress of Hotels and Tourism has a record number of subscribers, for a “reunion” that the sector association wants to mark “the moment of ‘restart’ “.
“Entries have already closed and we are very close to 600 entries. A record number of registrants at AHP Congresses [Associação da Hotelaria de Portugal]. We are all eager to meet again and this number is a reflection. We are going to have a great Congress ”, said the association’s vice-president, Cristina Siza Vieira, to Lusa.