Seasonal workers — the people who typically take summer jobs and work through the season with barely any time off — flooded social media from late February onward, searching for an answer to the simplest and, at the same time, most complicated question: is it still worth going away for the 2026 summer season?
The hunt for seasonal work, after all, requires a serious plan, a lot of thought, or, more simply, a blank sheet of paper with the pros and cons laid out before workers make their final decision.
For now at least — just before the season begins hesitantly in late March — the cons seem to outweigh the pros. That is what seasonal workers are writing in the online groups where they share their concerns, and that is also what they tell To Vima.
“I stopped”
“I stopped. I decided I’m not doing seasonal work anymore — I’m really exhausted,” says 23-year-old Kelly.
“Since the summer of 2025, this has been an ongoing story and, from the looks of it, it’s going to continue this year too. They say we don’t want to work, but they forget that there are no homes for workers to stay in, especially on the islands.”
Eleni, who owns a hotel in Santorini, believes nothing has changed since last year.
“The cost of living was so high that the people who usually worked seasonally didn’t come to the island. It looks like we’ll be in the same position this year. There’s no organization, the issue hasn’t been solved, and there’s nowhere for people to stay. And even if some accommodation is found, eight or nine people will be living together. That’s no way to do this.”
Alexandra, who also lives and works in Santorini, says the same thing.
“If the employer doesn’t provide accommodation, there’s a problem. Everything is turning into Airbnb. A lot of businesses shut down because of last year’s situation. This year, even though it’s still early, things were looking a little better, but we’ll definitely be affected by developments involving Iran.”
Big gaps in restaurants too
The only people willing to take these jobs, they say, are foreign workers, mainly Albanians, Bulgarians and Pakistanis. And the problem is not limited to hotels — restaurants and food service businesses are also facing huge staffing shortages.
To understand the anxiety surrounding the issue, it is enough to look at the recent intervention by the Central Union of Chambers of Greece, which asked for the list of businesses allowed to employ seasonal workers from third countries to be expanded so that it explicitly includes food service businesses as well.
As the president of the Union, Giannis Voutsinas, points out, the shortage of staff — especially in catering and hospitality — directly threatens the viability of thousands of businesses. Including the sector in the list for seasonal employment of third-country nationals, he said, “is a realistic and necessary intervention in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the market and the competitiveness of the Greek economy.”
Still, most seasonal workers begin weighing their options before the year even changes, when summer still feels far away and the sea temperature ranges between 14 and 18 degrees Celsius. One of them is Kostas, who already has an offer in hand.
Burnout
“The truth is, I still don’t know what I’ll do. For four straight years I’ve worked in a hotel in Lagonisi. Now I want something more permanent. I’ll only go back if I can’t find something better. You get tired. And it’s not just physical fatigue — we tend to forget burnout, the overall state you have to deal with every day.”
Asked whether it seems logical that more and more Greeks are turning their backs on seasonal work, Kostas is adamant.
“Of course it does. I was lucky — I had a good understanding with my employers and I had somewhere to stay. Living conditions matter. Unthinkable things happen in the summer. And then there’s the pressure. Think about it: a business is trying to make the money for the whole year in July and August.”
So, is it worth taking a seasonal job on an island?
According to Marios, no.
In a recent search, he found job ads offering €1,300 net for nine hours of work a day, seven days a week. No day off, total physical exhaustion, and roughly €4.75 an hour.
It was only natural, then, for him to ask: why would someone leave their family, their home, and their whole social circle behind, when they can work in their own city for €700, which with overtime might reach €900, but also have two days off and a more balanced daily life?
As we said, a serious plan requires a sheet of paper, with the pros and cons written down. Marios’s scale has already tipped — and he knows what his summer will look like.
“It would only be worth it if…”
“For it to really be worth my going away for the season, the deal would have to be at least €1,800 net, nine hours a day, six days a week, with food and accommodation included. Enough with the houses that look like holes,” he says.
Marios is not the only one thinking that whatever he can do on an island, he can also do in his own area. With tourism now fully alive in Athens during the summer too, many prefer city sidewalks to island shores, and the heat of the city to the island breeze.
According to data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in August 2025 stood at 8.1%, down from 9.7% in August 2024.
The drop in unemployment during the last month of summer suggests that more people are working during the summer season, some of whom are likely seasonal workers in tourism, hotels and food service.
The season, however, as people once had it in mind, has changed — and so has the search for seasonal work. It is now considered preferable to work for less money but stay close to home than to earn more in a difficult and often inhospitable environment.
80,000 workers wanted
At the start of the 2025 summer season, vacant jobs in hotels, food service businesses and tourism more broadly stood at around 80,000.
A few months from now, it will become clear whether the country remains at the same level or whether the situation has improved.
Would it really be surprising if things stay stagnant — or even worsen — while the cost of living for ordinary workers on the islands remains prohibitively high?
