Gozo’s foreign workers often lack job skills and language competence

77% of Gozitan operators responding to a survey by the Gozo Tourism Association have said they are employing foreign workers.

The GTA said it wanted to understand better the human resources situation prevailing on the sister island, as well as the constraints faced by such establishments.

Over 60% of businesses also said they were encountering difficulties to recruit new employees. “As mitigating measures Gozitan operators proposed fiscal incentives for employees in the tourism sector, as well the discontinuing of the unnecessary employment within the public sector. The bureaucratic process to obtain the necessary work permits was highlighted by 61% of the survey participants as the main issue and obstacle when they come to employ foreign staff,” the GTA said.

When asked what the disadvantages are in employing foreign staff, 41% of survey respondents flagged the lack of basic knowledge of the job to be performed. Other drawbacks mentioned were the low retention (22%) and the poaching of the trained staff (24%), while another group of respondents (13%) underlined the lack of the English language knowledge as another handicap.

Wages, repairs and renewals and food and beverages costs were the three main operating costs that have increased considerably. 25% of respondents are forecasting better performance of their establishment on 2022, with 38% predicting a same level of performance, and 37% saying it will be worse.