TIRANA - High salaries in the tourism industry are attracting more and more young people to this sector.

Beach hotels, bars, and restaurants are not only filled with young vacationers but also with staff aged 16-25. The salary of up to Euro 1000 for positions such as waiters or bartenders is a great incentive for those, who have chosen to spend the school vacation months working on the coast.

This year's tourist season is facing an important change in the tourism sector: wage increases that have helped solve a persistent problem - the labor shortage. The increase in wages has made the tourism sector attract more seasonal workers and improve the quality of services.

This improvement has helped stabilize services and provided a better experience for tourists.

"It has not been resolved 100%, but we are much better than in previous seasons, this is certainly due to the increase in wages in tourism; so, today if you take some of the most difficult jobs such as sanitation in hotels, the salaries are higher than bank employees, reaching up to Euro 1000 per month," said Blerim Norja, administrator of Royal G hotels, Monitor reported on Thursday.

In recent years, one of the main challenges for the tourism sector has been the lack of manpower.

Tour operators have reported difficulties in securing sufficient staff to cope with the influx of tourists during the summer season. The problem is particularly pronounced in peak season periods when the demand for services is higher.

"In the last two or three years, the labor force became a big problem as many of the young people started to leave the country after many new visas were opened in European countries, this year it seems that this problem has been solved naturally with some shortages small ones that are replaced,” said David Hyka, administrator of Diamma resort.

Seasonal workers now find more attractive opportunities to work in the tourism sector, benefiting from wages that can be higher than those of other sectors.

"The higher salary has become a key factor to attract qualified staff and maintain their motivation during the season," Blerim Norja told Monitor.

"All the hotels and businesses that have taken this season seriously have been forced to increase their salaries because this sector cannot continue as it has continued these years, where we hire staff, train them for 2-3 months, give them wages and they leave. Now we have fixed contracts and very satisfactory salaries, and so far this year we are seeing that this solution is the right one," said the president of the Fafa Hotels and Resorts group, Fatos Çerenishti.

A waiter in the south of the country this summer season is being paid an average of Euro 900-1000 per month, while a cleaner can earn up to Euro 700 per month. These salaries have also been reported in other coastal areas, where tour operators point out that the highest salaries are for chefs and bar managers. In some cases, the salaries for these positions reach up to Euro 3000 per month.

Now even immigrants are choosing to return during the season, not only for vacations, but also to work with wages that are comparable to those in European countries. Some of them have decided to work in Albania this season.

Blerim Norja, the administrator of Royal G hotels, says that in the hotels of Durres, there are many Albanians returned from emigration and have started working for this season.