Author: Aurora Shpataj
At a time when our country is increasingly being abandoned by a large part of the citizens, the one that is suffering the most from this phenomenon is the tourism sector. In a report by the Institute of Statistics, the number of immigrants for 2022 was 46 people. Faced with the fact that the main workforce has left the country, this sector seems to be in total collapse, on the eve of the start of the tourist season. Different hotel-tourism structures and other Services belonging to this sector are encountering many difficulties in terms of the lack of labor, forcing them to look elsewhere for a solution. Managers of many businesses have been forced to hire foreign nationals from countries such as: Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or even Turkey, etc. One of the businesses that has faced this phenomenon during the tourist season is the "Fafa" complex, located in Golem, specifically in Malin e Robit. The entrepreneur, Fatos Cerenishti, tells "Sinjalizo" that the lack of young Albanians has forced him to order labor from foreign countries.
"It is known that when we talk about the tourism sector, the part of the workers is the most important, the most important voice in this sector, because if we talk about hospitality for service, everything is done by the employees. Many problems that we have encountered due to the lack of Albanian employees, we have tried to fill them with foreigners."
The entrepreneur says that several foreign employees, who have come from different countries, work in his complex.
"In the complex that I manage, I have 40 foreign employees, who came from Turkey or Bali. "
Cerenishti says that the lack of local labor has forced him to order workers through Albanian employment agencies, at a time when the need for workers is greater than ever.
"For this year, I have asked employment agencies for over 100 foreign workers, and this week I expect the first ten to arrive.. "
Meanwhile, one of the foreign nationals who has chosen Albania to work is Chamik Hetirachi or otherwise called Nish. She comes from Sri Lanka and specializes as a physiotherapist. Nis tells 'Signalizo' the way of arrival in our country.
"I came to Albania through the agency after they looked at my CV. I paid 10 thousand dollars to come here. I didn't know the country, I came here because there were vacancies. "
She says that during 1 year in Albania she worked in several hotels in Durrës.
"I worked in two hotels in Durrës where I provided my Services. There I was paid 600 dollars with food and accommodation included.
From the data available to "Sinjalizo", 2023 foreign citizens have entered the Albanian territory for the period January-April 1.684.820. European citizens have the highest number of entries, namely 1.626.852 citizens, followed by America and East Asia.
Sources told "Sinjalizo" that for the four months of 2023, 1.646.725 foreign citizens had personal goals, 38.095 citizens had business and professional goals, while 80.273 foreign citizens were transit travelers.
Proposal from entrepreneurs: Students finish the academic year in June
Entrepreneur Cerenishti shows that the solution cannot be foreign labor. Meanwhile, he confesses that he has not missed bad experiences with foreign employees.
"Last year I tried with an employment agency from Bangladesh which brought in employees and they did not work well, the latter left without seeing them at work. Even now I say that whoever comes to me from the Bangladeshi market, even the best specialists, are unacceptable, because they use Albania as a springboard for other countries. "
The lack of qualification of foreign nationals is confirmed by Kumrie Zika, an employment expert, at the same time and owner of an Albanian employment agency for foreigners, who affirms for "Sinjalizo" that the workforce that comes from abroad is mostly unqualified.
"Mainly the workers who have chosen to come to Albania are the category of unskilled workers, the qualified ones are few in number. We have them in the field of construction from simple workers to specialists, i.e. construction masters. We have them in fashion, mainly Bangladeshis who are known for textiles, we have them from Sri Lanka who have recently become physiotherapists and in the field of agriculture. "
The owner of the "Fafa" complex concludes by indicating that a proposal has been offered to the relevant authorities for the resolution of this crisis.
"One of our proposals has been that we can cover the gap for employees, fill it with high school students and students, which is an army of over 200. If the government will make a decision not to start university not in October or November, but start on September 15th for both high schools and universities and end on June 15th. To make a busy program, because it is trouble, as long as the government's priority is the development of tourism, then they have to sacrifice that this army is part of the tourism sector for 4 months. "
