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The Costa del Sol tourism industry blames the cost of living crisis in Malaga for its inability find seasonal workers.
Tourism is actively looking for 1,800 employees to work in Costa del Sol restaurants and hotels this summer.
The high housing costs are cited as the reason why hotel and restaurant operators have had difficulty in attracting employees from outside the area.
Yesterday, Emplea Turismo Málaga-Costa del Sol At a job fair in Torremolinos where hundreds of CVs were submitted for tourism positions by industry leaders, they acknowledged that employees are increasingly rejecting jobs because of prohibitive living expenses.
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Jose Luque, President of the Association of Hotel Entrepreneurs of the Costa del Sol Aehcos, said: “Housing is a major problem when it comes to recruiting new employees.”
Luque cited specific geographical challenges: “Marbella is, for example causing housing prices to increase throughout the surrounding area.”
Malaga is more active at promoting VPO (subsidised housing) than other coastal city, which faces administrative and planning challenges.
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Even subsidised housing has become out of reach for many workers in the tourism industry.
Luque, who welcomed the recent measures taken by the regional government to raise income levels for housing assistance program eligibility, explained that a waiter’s assistant’s salary does not qualify him for subsidised housing.
Employers have had to change their hiring methods due to this problem.
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Luque revealed, “We now ask before hiring someone who they live and live with. We also ask how far from the hotel they live.”
We may tell them we are not interested in their business if we find out they live far enough away. The roads are bad and transportation can be a problem.
Manuel Villafaina, president of the Association of Beach Businesses (Aeplayas), reinforced these concerns with specific examples of workers who ‘have stopped coming’ altogether due to housing costs.
