Without sufficient and qualified workers, there can be no successful tourism, which has seen a deficit in the labour force over the past few years and in order to attract and keep workers, it is necessary to foremost increase their earnings so that they are more like those in neighbouring EU countries, which means that employers should be further unburdened, a conference on workers in tourism heard on Tuesday.
The conference, organised by the Ministry of Tourism, the Vecernji List daily and Poslovni Dnevnik business daily, brought together representatives of the tourism industry, consultants, students, representatives of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) and Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) as well as Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli, Labour Minister Marko Pavic and Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolusic. They agreed that importing workers should be a back-up option to resolve the lack of workers in tourism and in other areas too, and that it was primarily necessary to activate the local labour force, particularly from the pool of 160,000 unemployed persons.
"Import quotas for workers should be an alternative but a possible option which is important for tourism. This year, 15,000 permits are 'on the cards' and we don't have to issue them all. It is good though that we have that as an option, because the problem of the lack of workers obviously exists and other countries in Europe are experiencing this too," Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said.
The director of the Croatian Tourism Association (HUT), Veljko Ostojic, considers that not a lot would be achieved in the next two or three years unless wages in tourism go up by 30% to 40% or at least 10% each year. (Hina)
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