January 12, 2022
The World Travel and Tourism Council has revealed that Portugal experienced 92,000 direct travel and tourism job losses in 2020, representing a 19.6 per cent drop compared to the pre-pandemic levels.
According to WTTC latest report created in collaboration with Oxford Economics, one in six jobs in the sector will be unfilled due to the labour shortages, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Restrictions imposed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic only add to the current labour market crisis and hinder the recovery of the sector.
In addition, 92,000 people working directly in the country’s travel and tourism sector lost their job last year and unfortunately, the labour market is anticipated to witness a further average shortage of 53,000 workers. This means that labour supply is set to be 11 per cent below demand for 2022 – accounting for a shortage of one in nine jobs in the sector.
Furthermore, the labour demand in the country for the second half of 2021 stood at 475,000 and a shortfall of 85,000 – accounting for a ratio of 18 per cent.
