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The Easter celebrations are just over a week away and with the sun set to shine and temperatures expected to remain in the high 20s, the hospitality industry in the Region of Murcia is eagerly anticipating a bumper holiday period.

 

However, these “unbeatable” forecasts have been cast into shadow by staff shortages, which threaten to close pubs and beach bars across Murcia. According to president of the HoyTú Bar Association, José María Rubiales, the Region needs 40% more waiting staff and cooks to cope with the influx of tourists during Holy Week and as a result, in coastal areas like La Manga there are countless bars that just won’t open next week because they are so understaffed.

 

Hotels, many of which are already nearly booked out for Easter, have fewer problems finding workers since most hire the same employees each high season.

 

According to Rubiales, the high cost of rent in places like Cabo de Palos and other beachside resorts is also putting potential staff off, forcing bars and restaurants to advertise their vacancies in neighbouring towns. It doesn’t help, he said, that the coronavirus lockdowns prompted so many waiters to give up their day jobs and work in other sectors.

 

The unions also point out that many professionals have moved to neighbouring provinces where the salaries are higher than in the Region of Murcia.

 

"More qualified people are needed. Before you went to the hospitality schools in the Region and found waiters and cooks, but now there are none," he complained.

 

 

Despite the gloomy forecast for many bars and restaurants next week, the Region actually broke its own tourism employment record in February and was the community with the highest increase in the hospitality and travel agency sectors in the country.

 

 

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