Labor shortage seriously affects the tourism industry at the Romanian seaside this season, with some hotels even keeping their restaurants closed because they can’t find the necessary staff, local Profit.ro reported.

While some hotel owners try to outsource food services, others decided to give up serving meals to tourists, thus losing one fifth of the sales volume.

"We have information - but I can not disclose the names of those units, because I would make them a disservice – that there are hotels at the seaside that can’t open their restaurants due to lack of staff. There are about 10 hotels for now, but the trend is worrying and if the state does not find a solution, their number will increase exponentially next year,” Dragoș Răducan, first vice-president of the Romanian Tourism Employers' Federation (FPTR), told Profit.ro.

The hotels that don’t offer breakfast need to cut their tariffs by 20%, the FPTR official also said. In some cases, the hotels that have already cashed in the money for breakfast need to give tourists their money back. Meanwhile, other hotel owners found a different solution: they send their guests to eat at a neighboring hotel.

The hypermarkets opened at the seaside also affect the hotels’ businesses, as increasingly more tourists buy food from these shops and eat it in their rooms, Dragoș Răducan also said. There are also hypermarkets that sell cooked food.

Number of tourists in Romanian hotels, up by 5.4% in the first five months

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com