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Queues in front of the entrance to Europapark (archive photo): personnel search in Kyrgyzstan
Photo: Philipp von Ditfurth / picture alliance / dpa
On peak days, more than 50,000 people visit the Europapark in Rust, but now Germany's largest amusement park is temporarily capping the daily number of visitors due to a lack of staff.
"There are not enough staff and the guests notice that when restaurants or food stands are not open," said a company spokeswoman for the "Badische Zeitung".
Currently, no more than 30,000 visitors are admitted daily.
Within the industry, however, Europa-Park sees itself well positioned in terms of personnel.
According to the newspaper, the company reported 150 vacancies in April.
At that time, a need for 500 more workers was mentioned for the holiday months.
The Europa-Park, which claims to have almost 5,000 employees, around 5.8 million visitors (2019), over 100 attractions, six themed hotels and the associated water world, is not only a magnet for visitors, but also an important company for the regional economy.
»No more reserves on the labor market«
According to the amusement park, the search for employees in the catering and hotel industry is taking it further and further east – to Kyrgyzstan.
The company has been working with agencies in Bulgaria and Hungary for years, and there is another office in Slovakia.
Meanwhile, Europa-Park is also recruiting staff in northern Germany and throughout France.
There is also a shortage of skilled workers in aviation.
A study by the German Economic Institute (IW) puts the gap at around 7,200 skilled workers.
At the same time, there are "no more reserves on the labor market" to fill these vacancies for air and ground personnel, it says.
In the course of the pandemic, the number of employees had shrunk by around four percent.
There was a drop of 6,000 employees in service staff, plus 1,200 ground staff in technical air traffic operations.
Now that flying is possible again, few staff meet high demand and there are "significantly more vacancies than unemployed people," according to the IW.
Employment among pilots also fell.
The shortage of skilled workers is likely to worsen, because according to the study, not as many planes are taking off as before the corona crisis.
In addition, several airlines had to cancel flights planned for the summer due to a lack of staff, including Lufthansa.
Apr/dpa/AFP