Hospitality sector and the (non-)employment of people with disabilities. Hungarian restaurant owners’ experiences after the COVID outbreak

The hospitality sector in Hungary has experienced a dramatic downturn in the last three years. After the shock of COVID, the industry faces further difficulties due to labour shortages and the war in the region. In our research we asked restaurant owners about their opinion of employing people with disabilities and how COVID has shaped their approach. Our results show that the level of employment of people with disabilities is very low in this sector, showing problems of social accessibility. Still, during and after COVID, restaurant owners tried to support and retain their workers with disabilities (along with other workers).