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Restaurants in Saranda and Vlora raise prices by up to 33%

2024-05-08 07:38:00, Ekonomi CNA

Restaurants in Saranda and Vlora raise prices by up to 33%

Illustrative photo

Not finding employees, one of the main challenges that businesses continue to face even at the beginning of the new tourist season, has influenced the increase in costs, which is reflected in restaurant prices.

The chairman of the Association of Bars and Restaurants, Enri Jahja, claimed for "Monitor" that this season, prices in restaurants in the south have increased by an average of 10 to 20%.

Of the hotel accommodation structures in Durrës, restaurant prices have remained unchanged. The highest increase in prices from 26 to 33%, according to him, was recorded in the restaurants of Saranda and Vlora.

"If last year, the minimum price per person in the restaurants of these cities ranged from 2,000 to 2,200 ALL, this season it has reached up to 3,000 ALL per person.

While in Durrës, especially in the area of ??Golem, accommodation structures have been invested for the development of tourism, according to the model of Turkish resorts, where due to lower prices than in the south, this tourism model is massively attracting family vacationers.

In this area, there is no change in prices, compared to years".

For the president of the Association of Bars and Restaurants, the main factor that has influenced the increase in prices is the lack of labor.

According to him, this sector still suffers from a shortage of 20,000 employees. While the problem with recruitment is also present in the neighboring countries of the region, which, in order to fill the vacuum with staff, are attracting Albanian employees with salaries many times higher than in Albania.

“On the south coast, the salaries for chefs range from 3,000-3,500. In special structures, payments reach up to 5,000 euros.

While payments for waiters start from 1,000 euros. These payments are unaffordable by these structures, and the added cost of staffing difficulties has been reflected in increased prices.

It should be emphasized that the employee crisis is also a phenomenon in the countries of the region. At the start of the tourist season, there were many offers from Greece for the employment of Albanians, mainly as waiters with salaries ranging from 4,000 to 5,000 euros per month", affirms Jahja.

The president of the Association of Bars and Restaurants warned earlier that the increase in salaries without meritocracy is expected to bring high cost increases for businesses, which will be accompanied by price increases.

At the start of the new tourist season, prices in restaurants are expected to change in some areas of Durrës. Some owners of private beaches and restaurants warn of price increases in restaurants and beach umbrellas by 10 to 15% compared to years due to the high wages being demanded by employees.

In the absence of finding them, even in Durrës, chefs are being hired with salaries of up to 3,000 euros per month, as well as service staff with salaries of 1,000 euros, which have increased the costs of businesses.

Enri Jahja says that many bar and restaurant owners who are financially unable to hire experienced employees are forced to hire service staff, such as waiters or assistants/young unqualified waiters aged between 17 and 19, or retired employee.

To fill the vacuum with human resources from bars and restaurants in the country, foreign employees, mainly Asians, were hired, but the scheme proved unsuccessful, due to departures.

For the year 2023, according to the data of the National Employment and Skills Agency (AKPA), they led with 1,094 employment approvals from a total of 9,850 foreigners with work permits who were in the country./ Monitor Magazine