Walter Finch
THE Costa del Sol’s tourism sector is blaming its inability to find seasonal workers on Malaga’s cost of living crisis.
The tourism sector is actively seeking 1,800 workers for Costa del Sol hotels and restaurants this summer.
But hotel and restaurant owners have reported difficulties attracting workers from outside the region, which they put down to the exorbitant cost of housing.
During yesterday’s Emplea Turismo Málaga-Costa del Sol employment fair in Torremolinos, where hundreds submitted CVs for tourism positions, industry leaders acknowledged that potential employees are increasingly turning down job opportunities due to prohibitive living costs.
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“Housing is one of the biggest problems we face today when recruiting employees,” declared Jose Luque, president of the Association of Hotel Entrepreneurs of the Costa del Sol (Aehcos).
Luque pointed to specific geographic challenges: “Marbella, for example, is radiating housing price increases throughout its surrounding area.”
He noted that Malaga city appears more active in promoting subsidised housing (VPO) than other coastal cities, which face administrative hurdles and planning issues.
Yet the situation has become so severe that even subsidised housing is out of reach for many tourism workers.
“The salary of a waiter’s assistant doesn’t qualify them for subsidised housing,” Luque explained, welcoming recent regional government measures to raise income thresholds for housing assistance programs.
The problem has forced employers to adapt their hiring practices.
“Before hiring someone, we now ask who they live with, where they live, and how far they live from the hotel,” Luque revealed.
“Sometimes we tell people we’re not interested based on that information, because if they live too far away, transportation is a problem given the current state of the roads.”
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.
