One of the most striking public information campaigns of recent note is one posted by the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) on what would happen if migrant workers were taken out of the equation in Australian hospitality.
While purportedly a production generated using artificial intelligence, the video presents a chilling possibility: a variety of basic services would no longer be possible; food costs would skyrocket; and both product and service quality would drop to unacceptable lows.
This controversial piece underscores something which we have featured a number of times over the course of the past two years: there is a significant labour shortage in the global hospitality sector and migrant workers as well as more diverse hiring options have helped mitigate its worst effects.
Indeed, we should also point out that organisations like the International Labour Organisation (ILO) have been pointing out how the migrant workforce has been integral to the operations of global hospitality since well before the pandemic.
Which country has the most migrants in hospitality?
At present, migrant workers make up roughly 31 percent of the total hospitality workforce in the United States.
To go by an October 2025 report from OysterLink, the US hospitality industry employed around three million foreign workers as of 2023, making hospitality the country’s sixth largest employer of migrants.
Across the pond in the United Kingdom, the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management reports that migrants make up 24.2 percent of the country’s hospitality workforce, with the concentration going as high as 40 percent in key locations like London and Edinburgh.
Elsewhere, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) sees significant migrant representation in the service and accommodation sectors with 44.6 percent in Luxembourg, 27.5 percent in Switzerland, and 21.1 percent in Australia.
Massive staffing requirements but with lower paychecks
The 2012 ILO report Migrant workers are essential to hotel industry explained that, while it was impossible to say how many migrant workers were among the 235 million people employed in the sector at the time, they are absolutely essential to the global hospitality workforce, serving as the operational backbone for the world’s travel, tourism, and accommodation sectors.
This is especially true in the present day as the current economic and geopolitical crises have been evolving more rapidly than wonted and migrants display a great deal of flexibility that has made them desirable as employees.
It also goes without saying that hospitality itself has become one of the largest and most rapidly expanding industries worldwide.
The report delineates this, but also issues a critical caveat:
“[Hotels] require a lot of staff. However, they also need flexibility based on seasonal work. As a result, workers are usually hired on temporary contracts. Salaries tend to be low since positions do not necessarily require high skills. Working conditions are often difficult, including night-shifts and working during weekends. This is why jobs in hotels are not very attractive for the local population, especially in developed countries.”
It sounds galling when put thus, but it reveals the sobering truth that migrants are willing to take lower wages to take on the positions that many locals turn their noses up at.
The UN International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has likewise stated: “Migrant workers play a vital role in the global hospitality sector, yet many of them remain vulnerable to human and labour rights risks during both recruitment and employment.”
Piecing together the reasons why migrant labour is vital to the industry
Ageing populations, especially in developed nations, are seen as a contributing factor to the global hospitality labour shortage.
Older populations mean establishments are hard-pressed to recruit locally, owing to challenging work hours and the physical rigours of hospitality work.
At the same time, we need to remember that tourism demand fluctuates wildly based on seasons and major events.
In which case, migrant workers, many of whom come in on temporary or casual contracts, provide businesses with the operational flexibility required to scale up or down.
Also, while highly educated or skilled migrants increasingly take up managerial and technical roles, the bulk of the migrant workforce takes on vital, labour-intensive frontline positions, particularly housekeeping, kitchen operations, food service, and facility maintenance.
What needs to change
If migrants are so vital to the growth and profitability of the industry, perhaps the question that hospitality firms need to answer is how they can address the systemic issues impacting their welfare.
Two specific issues that need to be faced almost immediately have been outlined by the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance as follows:
- Illegal recruitment and exploitation Temporary and low-skilled migrant workers are highly susceptible to unethical recruitment practices, including illegal recruitment fees and debt bondage before they even arrive at their destination; and
- Labour segmentation A distinct "North-South" divide exists wherein workers migrating from lower-income nations frequently face structural barriers, stereotyping, and lower syndication or union representation. This puts them in a precarious position: paid significantly lower for the most physically-demanding tasks at a property.
