A Climate for Change

Human Development Report - Croatia 2008 Tourism^55

About 6% of the working population in Croatia works in
the tourism hospitality and restaurants sector alone.^11
In 2007, that accounted for approximately 86,000 peo-
ple.^ As these people probably support other members
of the family, the number of people that could be af-
fected by changes in the tourism sector would be much
bigger. In 2007 almost 16,000 seasonal workers were
employed,I yet there were still many vacancies unfilled.
The hospitality and restaurant sector represents the
third largest employment sector accounting for 13.8%
of the total national demand for workers.II

Most of the seasonal workforce comprises Croatians
under the age of 35 and with high-school or elemen-
tary school education (with no official qualifications
under Croatian law). Meanwhile, the tourism industry
requires more and more qualified personnel, even for
basic jobs. This may mean that in the future there will
be an even greater shortage of qualified workers.

In addition to those working directly in the tourist in-
dustry, there are many people working in related in-
dustries that are directly impacted by tourism. People
working in agriculture, fishing or mariculture, transpor-
tation personnel, services oriented to tourists (such as
tour-operators, grocery markets, bakeries, ice-cream
shops, hair salons, and wellness centres) and unreg-

istered apartment rentals, are all directly affected by

tourism. Tens of thousands of families rely on tourism

incomes in the grey economy to supplement their

household budgets (unregistered apartment rentals,

unregistered sales of agricultural products, etc.). The

value of unregistered tourist overnights alone is equal

to almost 1% of the entire country’s GDP. According to

some estimates, approximately 50% of overnights are

unregistered, and no State duties are paid for them.^12

Probably because of the seasonal nature of tourism

and the grey economy, five of the seven coastal coun-

ties actually have higher levels of official unemploy-

ment than the national average (see Figure 4-3).

4.2.4. Barriers to human development in

employment in the tourism sector

While a tremendous number of jobs are created by the

tourism sector, there are structural employment prob-

lems within it which make the workers quite vulner-

able. This is due largely to the seasonal nature of the

employment, and the fixed and short-term contracts

common in this sector, which provide no job security.

• Low pay cheques and an unofficial “grey econo-
  my” workforce are widespread. In spite of the high
  demand for workers in the tourism sector, wages
  are 13-16% lower than the average wages in oth-
  er sectors in Croatia. Grey economy employment
  lowers the salary average due to the unfair com-
  petition it creates with legal jobs, where State du-
  ties and minimum employee qualifications must
  be met.


• There is inadequate professional (vocational)
  education and a lack of programmes for life-long
  learning and improvement.


• There are inadequate public-private partner-
  ships, such as privately-funded scholarships for
  students of higher education (businesses paying
  for education for their future employees).

GDP and Tourism share in GDP 2001-2007

GDP (in billion EUR)

Share of tourism in GDP (%)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

GDP in billion EUR

0

5

10

15

20

25

Tourism share in %

Figure 4-2: GDP and tourism share in GDP 2001-2007.

Sources: CBS; Ministry of Tourism.

I This included sales personnel (approx. 1800 people), wait staff

(approx. 1700 people), service personnel for rooms (approx. 1500

people), cooks (approx. 1300 people), kitchen personnel (approx.

1100 people) and custodians (approx. 1000 people).

II After the processing industry 21.4% and sales 18.2%.

In addition to

those working

directly in the

tourist industry,

there are many

people working

in related

industries that

are directly

impacted by

tourism