Croatia's tourist industry expects to be short of 15,000 workers next year

Croatia's tourist industry will be short of 15,000 workers next year, and the demand will partly be covered by retraining people who are currently out of work and, if necessary, by increasing the quota for foreign workers, Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said after a cabinet meeting on Thursday. He was responding to questions from the press about the problem of labour shortage in tourism.

Cappelli said that the tourist industry would have to increase wages to retain the work force, adding that about 20,000 of about 150,000 unemployed had expressed their desire for retraining and possibly to work in the tourist sector.

"We have to be aware that next year Croatian tourism will need about 15,000 people, and it will not be possible to retrain all the people in one year," he underlined.

This year's quota for foreign workers in the tourist sector is 8,660 and there will still be a shortage of between 5,000 and 7,000 workers. "We must not bring the whole year into question. If necessary, we will resort to the quota as a solution, but in the long term it will be centres of competence," the minister said, adding that tenders for training would be issued in October. "Over time, we will have to hire a certain number of foreign workers, as all other countries do," he concluded. (Hina/FaH)

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