Mamaia resort. Photo: George Calin/ Inquam Photos

Romania‘s Black Sea resorts are set to start their 2018 tourist season this weekend, with over 40,000 visitors expected to head to the seaside for the traditional May 1 break.

But local entrepreneurs say they may have a hard time coping with the influx because of the unprecedented shortage of staff.

Hotels and restaurants are still looking to recruit over 5,000 people to work as chefs, cleaners, waiters, bartenders and baristas, which means that less than 50 per cent of the positions have been filled only days before the season starts on May 1.

“It is the most serious shortage we’ve faced in 28 years,” the head of the Romanian Federation of Tourism Employers, Mohammad Murad, said in Constanta on Monday.

He was speaking after a meeting with Tourism Minister Bogdan Trif, where local authorities and entrepreneurs debated the staff shortage as well as other developments in the Black Sea resorts.

Trif said that developing the resorts was one of the ministry’s priorities and that he planned to establish a school to train workers in the hospitality sector.

But businesses say more training alone will not solve the problem of staff shortages.

“It’s more and more difficult to find people,” Tudor Constantinescu, owner of a bar in Constanta, said.

“Most of the qualified personnel have left the country to work for better pay in hotels abroad or on cruise ships. Once they are trained, they will continue to do so, in search of better pay,” he predicted.

He said he hires students for the summer season to cope with the influx of tourists.

But, because of the personnel shortage, applicants are demanding higher wages, which most owners can’t afford, he noted.

Pay varies according to the quality of the restaurant or hotel. A high-end chef can demand as much as 3,000 euros a month in a restaurant, while cleaners can earn around 600 euros. Some bartenders can earn around 1,000 euros per month, which is higher than the average wage in the capital, Bucharest, of 644 euros.

But these are the wages in top restaurants in Mamaia, the most expensive Romanian Black Sea resort.

Cleaning personnel in most hotels usually earn the minimum wage, around 350 euros a month, while other employees earn around 400 euros and a chef would get around 900 euros.

“If you seek a summer job and negotiate really well, you can get a decent package, with accommodation and meals included, even if you don’t have the qualifications they ask for,” Sonia, a 26-year-old receptionist, told BIRN.

But she says she has still decided to go for a job on a cruise ship instead. “I’m young and I want to see the world a bit, and I also want to save some money. My friends make as much as 4,000 dollars a month as waitresses, which is ten times what you can get in Romania,” she pointed out.

Some tourism employers now want to import foreign workers. Romania has increased the number of foreign workers in 2018 to 7,000, but few choose seasonal work in Black Sea resorts. Moreover, the paperwork and taxes make it difficult and expensive to hire foreigners, Constantinescu said.

Unfortunately, he stressed, the lack of qualified staff also means lower quality service – which is why many Romanians prefer the Bulgarian Black Sea resorts.

“What we need is a proper tourism strategy that would bring tourists all year round, so that we can actually sustain a business with a bit more than just passion,” he said.

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