“We need to give prestige to the sector or we won’t find staff”

2023-09-28 15:15:36

«We need to give prestige to the sector. Otherwise, we will not find staff. We have lost public and published opinion», explained this Thursday Jaume Dulsat, Tourism & Hospitality Leader at Eurofirms Group, during the celebration of one of the round tables that took place in the fifth edition of Girocamping PRO.

The camping sector ensures that deseasonalization is already a factaccording to the establishments’ employment data. They explain that in the month of May employment increased by 18% in relation to the same period in 2022 and this September demand has also increased, especially in French and Anglo-Saxon senior tourism. “We can talk about a good season as a whole and this is thanks to the union of the sector. The most important success is not the occupation in high season, but in the pre and post season”, said the president of the Girona Camping Association, Miquel Gotanegra.

However, professionals have also made public the sector’s concern for the image it projects abroad. «Tourism has an unfair reputation problem», assured the professor of the Faculty of Tourism of the UdG, Dr. José Antonio Donaire. “The campsites are the ones that have made the most efforts for sustainability and staff, new professionals will be needed to develop the sector”, he added. However, he admitted that “the professionals of the future will want conciliation, to be paid at weekends. We must improve working conditions».

Along these lines, Marta Prat, head of quality and human resources at the Sènia Group, explained that “we are building staff loyalty all year round, staff who can do maintenance in the winter. With a work welfare plan to build loyalty, such as for example with a schedule for students. Adapt to the needs of the worker».

Doctor Maria Abellanet, president of the CETT_UB and the CETT Foundation, who was also present at the conference, remarked on the importance of training. «We must have an intergenerational view. It will be increasingly important».

Sustainability in the sector

The inauguration of the fifth Girocamping PRO has brought together nearly 300 attendees, between professionals and students, at the Municipal Theater of Lloret de Mar. Gotanegra also noted the importance of sustainability in the sector and recalled that “for more than 25 years we have been working along this path and this makes the offer of campsites more sustainable and respectful of the environment.”

The president of the Girona Camping Association has called for more collaboration from the administrations for the necessary adaptation to climate change. “We are working on it and we are asking for faster responses and for everyone to be aligned in a more sustainable energy model.”

The congress was inaugurated by the mayor of Lloret, Adrià Lamelas; and the delegate of the Government of the Generalitat, Laia Cañigueral. Lamelas emphasized that “for Lloret de Mar, the main tourist destination of the Costa Brava, it is a satisfaction to be able to host this congress and highlight the dynamism and competitiveness of the sector”. For her part, the Government representative has assured that “camping is a reference sector that has been committed, for a long time, to innovation, digitization and internationalization”.