Panic in Greece as country faces huge new tourist problem - 'need 80,000 more'

80,000 jobs need to be filled in a matter of weeks. (Image: Getty)

Summer 2025 is on track to set new records for tourism in Greece. According to INSETE’s Air Data Tracker, 28.2 million international air seats are scheduled for this season, which marks a 4.6% increase from 2024. The UK remains Greece's top tourism market with about 5.6 million seats booked, up by 2.2% from 2024, Greek City Times reported. However, this surge in tourist numbers has created an unexpected challenge: a massive labour shortage in the hospitality sector.

Tens of thousands of restaurant and hotel jobs must be filled in just a few weeks. Around 80,000 positions in Greece’s hotel and food service industries remain vacant, which are vital sectors to the nation’s economy, which accounts for roughly a quarter of Greece’s GDP, The Guardian reported.

Greece is expecting an influx of tourists this summer 2025. (Image: Getty)

Giorgos Hotzoglou, president of the Panhellenic Federation of Workers in Food Service and Tourism (POEET), told The Guardian: "It’s partly a legacy of the [Covid-19] pandemic, which all of Europe has felt, but in Greece the problem is particularly acute.

"What we’re seeing is an unprecedented lack of qualified and experienced workers, especially in the hotel and food industry, following the exodus of employees during the lockdown. Many never returned. As a result, an estimated 80,000 jobs are now needed."

He added: "Once the season is over, workers are entitled to only three months of unemployment benefit. When there’s a cost-of-living crisis, how are they expected to survive the rest of the year?"

Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni confirmed that tourism arrivals in January 2025 were already up by 10% compared to January 2024.

She also said that tourism revenue rose by 3.5 billion euros in 2024 compared to before the pandemic, in 2019.

Dimitris Stathokostopoulos, a restaurant owner in Athens, told The Guardian: "It’s becoming harder and harder to find employees.

"Tourism is definitely on the rise but these days Greeks prefer to work 9 to 5 office jobs that don’t require putting in hours at night, or over the weekend."

The Goverment is reportedly seeking to recruit from abroad and encouraging expats to return to help fill these jobs.