“The past three years have not spared major challenges for resort businesses. In addition to bad weather, miserly vacationers, which have already become the traditional problems of resort entrepreneurs, the pandemic with its two quarantines, the war in Ukraine and the economic downturn, the intensity of which is predicted by many economists almost during the summer season, contributed to this, says Creditreform Lithuania. ” Director Saulius Žilinskas, – so the prospect of earning enough to make up for the losses of the previous year and still having enough to survive the winter until the next season becomes really difficult. Especially since the last season death resulted in losses for resort businesses.”
Creditreform Lietuva analysts assessed the economic health of resort companies on the eve of the new season. The offseason was considered the period from 2022. October 1 and until May 1 of this year. Only businesses registered in resort towns were included in the analysis.
In total, at the end of the last season, 1947 resort enterprises had at least one employee: the most – in Palanga (802) and the least – in Birštona (111). Unfortunately, not everyone hires employees at the start of the new season. Birštonas lost the most blood, with 8.4% dropping out of employer lists. businesses in operation at the end of the previous season. Palanga was second, losing 6.1%. business populations.
The results of Druskininkai and Neringa were average. As stated in the report, it cannot be ruled out that companies that have lost their staff will soon formalize their legal closure, or that the Registration Center will do so after some time, which recently massively deregistered inactive companies throughout the Lithuania.
Far fewer resort businesses are officially declared bankrupt. There were none in Birštona and Druskininkai, and in Neringa the construction company “Klaista” is not required to fulfill its obligations until 2021. declared almost 330,000 euro turnover. Five companies said goodbye to the Palanga market. One commercial, one engaged in the organization of entertainment and recreation, and three provided catering services. The turnover of all these unfortunates in 2021 was less than 220 thousand. euros.
Although it is still unfashionable to seek the seizure of debtors’ assets after the pandemic and the statistics of seizures still do not reach the pre-pandemic level, 40 resort companies have already received restrictions on the disposal of their assets. The highest concentration of these enterprises (2.6% or 21 enterprises) was in Palanga and the lowest in Biršton (0.8% or 1 enterprise).
On the eve of the season, we also have 189 companies which owe more than 10 euros to Sodra. Most of them are located in Birštona (10.9% of all operating companies as of October 1, 2022) and Neringa (10.8%). The lowest is at Druskininkai (8.8%). If we calculate the DIX employer debt index created by Creditreform Lietuva, it becomes clear that the highest level of debt (5,620.2 euros of debt per employer) is in Birštona, and the lowest (240.45 euros) in Neringa.
Despite the ongoing difficult times, resort residents continue to start new businesses. A total of 177 such babies were born during the off-season. The highest concentration of new arrivals was in Palanga (14%, or 112) and the lowest in Biršton (5.9%, 4).
“Interestingly, in the small municipality of Neringa, where it seems that everyone who can (even if officially registered as residents) already has a business, there is room for eight more businesses,” the report said.
If we rate resorts by salaries paid, we immediately notice that Neringa, considered a prestigious resort for people with higher incomes, also stands out with higher salaries. The average salary, which in 2022 October – 2023 in March, the companies of this municipality (those whose salary information is public) paid 1217.62 euros. It is somewhat unexpected that the second largest Lithuanian resort, Druskininkai, is at the bottom of the list in terms of company salaries – 1094.76 euros.
Employee hiring is in full swing
The fact that we are approaching the season is also evidenced by the dynamics of the number of employees hired by resort companies. If we compare April 1 of this year and last year. numbers, we will see that all stations except Neringa had more employees. One of the reasons for this is the shortage of manpower, so that employees are paid well before the start of the season, because finding, e.g. a skilled cook just before the onset of summer is extremely difficult.
The number of staff increased the most – in Palanga (+184), while in Neringa it decreased by 73. This seems to be related to the decrease in the number of foreign tourists. It should be noted that at resorts located by the sea, seasonal and off-season personnel changes are especially large, at mineral water resorts, seasonality is not so obvious, the “mountains” of the dynamic graphics are not so steep.
A total of 19,787 employees are currently employed at the four stations. And these are only those who are hired by companies registered in the stations. The largest number of companies – 7953 – have already hired Druskininkai (although there are fewer companies here than in Palanga), in second place is Palanga (7366), followed by Neringa (2449) and Birštonas (2019).
Source: The Delfi
