Economics

German Labor Scarcity Threatens Decade-Long Tourist Boom

  • Industry heading for 10th year of growth but struggles to hire
  • Rising costs, geopolitics and tangled red tape add to burden

Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

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The Hotel Neptun on the Baltic coast has a luxury problem familiar to many German businesses: a lengthy help-wanted list it needs to fill to meet booming demand.

The five-star accommodation in a 1970s-era beachfront high rise at Warnemuende is looking for an electrician, chefs, a waiter, a maid, fitness instructors and a beautician to serve a growing number of German and international guests.