We need you!

The exhibition “We need you” had been planned for 2020: then the pandemic struck and the exhibition was cancelled. In the meantime, despite the climate crisis, inflation and war in Ukraine, tourism has broken all records compared to pre-corona days and the exhibition is coming at just the right time. The additions are graphically accentuated to provide a special touch.

The first part of the exhibition introduces some of the reasons for staff shortages: the massive increase in tourism over the years and the strong trend towards personnel-intensive, higher class hotels. Whereas a simple bed and breakfast used to get by with one employee per 30 beds, a four-star hotel now needs one employee per five beds. The exhibition then shows where staff in the hotel and restaurant industry are from: almost half come from outside South Tyrol.

Finally, the exhibition also looks at the negative aspects of certain jobs in the industry: evening and weekend working, limited days off, a lack of accommodation for seasonal workers and, not infrequently, poor personnel management in family businesses. It is no coincidence that many people switch to other sectors after completing an apprenticeship in the hotel trade. The exhibition repeatedly draws historical comparisons.

The second part allows visitors themselves to become actors: individualised by software, they undergo an interactive job interview and peek behind the scenes of fictitious establishments. As in real life as a cook, waiter, caretaker or entertainer, they can try and find acceptable working hours, fair pay and interesting benefits – or see how things could be worse.