The Complexities of Finding and Retaining Staff in Austrian Tourism Industry: A Look at the Latest Analysis by AMS

The summer of 2023 saw a decrease in the number of tourism jobs reported to the AMS, but the staff shortage that domestic tourism professionals had been complaining about has eased. In the winter season, employment in the accommodation sector rose by 1.5 percent to 223,000. However, there was still a significant drop in the number of tourism jobs reported compared to other sectors.

The AMS analysis revealed that the number of Austrian employees has decreased in recent years, but this has been offset by an increase in non-Austrians. The proportion of Austrians among all dependent active employees in the accommodation and catering sector fell from 48 percent in 2019 to 43 percent in 2023. The part-time rate was 39.2 percent last year, significantly higher than the average across all sectors. Since 2012, workers from Hungary have been the largest group, followed by Germany, Romania, Slovakia, and Croatia. Workers from third countries make up 21 percent of all employees, with Ukraine being one of the largest contributors.

AMS Board John Head highlights the high staff turnover in the tourism industry as a challenge that leads to a constant need for new workers. Companies are now looking for staff worldwide but without improvements in working conditions such as offering year-round employment or better wages and benefits. The average time it took for a tourism company to fill a position last year was only slightly shorter than previous years at 67 days across all sectors.

Overall, despite some improvements over time, challenges remain in finding and retaining staff in the tourism industry due to competition from other industries and low wages and benefits offered by many companies.

In summary: Despite some improvements over time, challenges remain for domestic tourism professionals trying to find and retain staff due to competition from other industries and low wages and benefits offered by many companies.