Holidaymakers flocking to Mediterranean sunspots will face an unexpected shortage this summer. Brexit employment rules mean many bars and restaurants will be short of staff because of restrictions on workers from the UK.
For decades, thousands of British youngsters have jetted overseas for a summer working in the bars of popular holiday resorts in Spain and Greece, but this has now been blocked because of the UK's exit from the European Union.
It has become much more difficult for establishments in the EU hospitality sector to employ seasonal workers from the UK, who used to make up the bulk of the temporary summer workforce in places like Tenerife, Majorca and Ibiza and the Greek islands of Corfu, Zante and Crete.
The number of British workers hired in Europe has dropped substantially because it is more risky, more costly and more time consuming to give young people from the UK the opportunities they had enjoyed previously. An estimated 25,000 young people from the UK worked in temporary jobs overseas pre-Brexit but that number has slumped causing the staffing shortages.
One bar owner in the Majorca party town of Magaluf has said he was planning to take on seasonal workers from Ireland and eastern Europe to fill the jobs traditionally filled by British workers. He said: "More people are heading from Ireland and eastern Europe each year to work for the summer, so I don't think we will have any problems filling the jobs."
Paul McNeill said an increasing number of other EU nationalities are taking summer roles normally filled by British seasonal workers. He said: "Employers are quite happy to have people from other countries - they can be cheaper and there is a lot less paperwork than employing British counterparts.
"It is almost impossible to get a summer job unless you have all the visa requirements and a contract in advance," he added.
In another blow for British tourists heading to party hotpots Ibiza and Majorca, some visitors face a cut in the number of alcoholic drinks they can consume on all-inclusive holidays. The government in Spain's Balearic Islands is cracking down on boozy British tourists filling up on alcohol at their hotels before hitting the town. Bar crawls, 2-4-1 drinks offers and party boats are also outlawed.
Tourists will be limited to just three drinks per meal in affected hotels in Playa de Palma, El Arenal and Magaluf, Majorca, as well as Ibiza's party capital St Antonio.
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea
