July 27 (SeeNews) - Croatia will suffer a shortfall of 15,000 workers in its tourism industry next year, which will require increased seasonal hiring of foreign nationals, tourism minister Gari Cappelli the minister said.
Last month, the government increased the number of employment permits for foreigners in tourism and catering services in 2018 from 4,660 to 8,660 but next year Croatia will need up to 7,000 more employees than this year, Gari Cappelli said in a press release issued by the ministry on Thursday.
He noted that apart from increasing the quota for foreign nationals, Croatia plans to increase wages in tourism and retrain its unemployed citizens.
"We will cover some of the shortage out of the currently unemployed persons, of which there are some 150,000, since around 20,000 people have declared that they are prepared to undergo retraining and possibly employment in tourism," Cappelli said.
Last month, Croatia's unemployment rate fell to a record 8.8%.
Croatia saw a record 18.5 million tourist arrivals in 2017, up 13% on the year. This year, the country expects 20 million arrivals.