Croatia's tourist industry will be short of 15,000 workers next year, and the demand will partly be covered by re-training 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 asked by reporters to comment about the problem of increasing labour shortages in the tourist industry.

Cappelli said that the industry would have to increase wages to retain existing workforce, adding that about 20,000 out of about 150,000 unemployed people in the country had expressed their desire for re-training and possibly getting jobs in the tourism sector.

“We have to be aware that next year Croatia’s tourist industry will need about 15,000 people, and it will not be possible to re-train those people within a single year,” he added.

This year’s quota for foreign workers in the tourist sector is 8,660. However, there will still be a shortage of between 5,000 and 7,000 workers.

“We must not allow it to bring the whole tourist season into jeopardy. If necessary, we will resort to (increasing) the quota as a solution, but in the long term the solution is in centres of competence,” Cappelli 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 added.

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