But where have the seasonal workers gone?
Seasonal workers are essential to the French tourism industry, with restaurants and accommodation representing no less than 35% and 26% of seasonal jobs. While France welcomes millions of visitors each summer, thousands of seasonal workers are missing in action.
A high-tension 2025 season
And the 2025 season is no exception, with 63,000 missing seasonal workers according to the Minister Delegate for Tourism, Nathalie Delattre, who cites figures from the Ministry of Economy and Finance for the third quarter of 2024.
“Today, it’s more complicated to find your employees than to find your clients,” conceded Anthony Rambault, President of UMIH Brittany at the start of the summer season. This observation is shared by Christophe Watrelot, President of the Federation of Outdoor Hoteliers of Lot, “It has become a national sport to search for seasonal workers.”
A problem that affects all regions of France, and major tourist destinations are no exception. Indeed, 45% of employers in Occitania were already anticipating recruitment difficulties as early as 2022, as the tourism industry fully resumed after two erratic years due to the health crisis.
And this shortage of seasonal workers impacts not only hotels, restaurants, and bars but also campsites, which are key accommodations for the summer. As Etienne Page, CEO of Yelloh! Village, recently confided, “Recruiting seasonal workers is a real problem […] it’s an issue we are tackling head-on.”
A problem not from yesterday
This shortage is obviously not new, with nearly 40,000 seasonal workers already missing in the 2024 season, according to the government. Of this significant number, nearly 10,000 vacant positions concerned outdoor hospitality, according to UMIH.
“Usually at this time of year, we were facing a shortage of 10,000 seasonal workers. It is complicated in an economic context where recruitment is high, with…
