Significant staff shortages are faced by Turkey’s hotels, which in some places are even more noticeable, with hoteliers turning to foreign workers from countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as they are not responding to the domestic market.
Turkey’s tourism industry employs around 2 million workers during the high, tourist season, with staff shortages becoming even more acute during this period, especially in certain positions that may be unattractive but are equally important for the operation of a hotel, such as that of a hotel manager.
According to market representatives, “it will soon be almost impossible to find staff to wash dishes”. Thus, hoteliers are looking for workers outside the country.
On the difficulty they face in finding Turkish dishwashing workers, Zafer Alkaya, general manager of the Cornelia Diamond Golf Resort & SPA, Antalya, stresses that this is despite the fact that the salaries offered are above the basic salary.
However, the high cost of rent, which Turkish citizens are burdened with, and which cannot be covered by the salary of the lazier, acts as a deterrent, according to Alkaya.
As he explains, about 80% of the dishwashing workers are Indonesians, who live in dormitories and do not spend money, which helps them to meet the cost of living at these wages.
During the high, tourist season, the hotel’s staff exceeds 1,000 people, dropping to 650 in the winter. Of these, 250-300 are foreigners.
In addition to low wages and high housing costs, the seasonality of tourism, which does not provide the opportunity to work throughout the year, pushes Turkish workers to seek employment in other sectors, according to Alkaya.
Commenting on the attitude of the younger generation towards work, he points out that young people aspire to managerial positions immediately after graduation and without any experience. However, “the best hotel managers are those who have slowly risen through the ranks, starting from the core of the business,” he explains meaningfully.
Referring to the challenges facing the tourism market in Antalya, he notes that due to the ongoing war in Ukraine and problems in the Russian economy, the number of Russian tourists to the region is down.
According to him, Russians choose to travel to Asia, to countries such as Thailand and Vietnam. But due to tensions between India and Pakistan and the closure of Pakistani airspace, flight times have increased and, by extension, costs have risen, something Turkey could benefit from. “The economic crisis in Russia and drone attacks have exacerbated this opportunity,” Alkaya adds.
