Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli on Tuesday announced the possibility of battling labour shortages by importing seasonal workers from several countries.

“We are talking with Ukraine and Albania, as well as with some other surrounding countries about workers because the shortage in tourism is troubling for many countries. In Austria, for example, about 90,000 foreigners work in tourism, while here they make up only five to six percent of all those employed,” Cappelli told reporters.

In 2018, some 8,000 foreigners were employed in the tourism sector in Croatia.

 In December, the government had decided it would increase the quota for foreign work permits in the tourism sector in 2019 by some 6,700, to 15,611.

Cappelli said that, nevertheless, the domestic workforce would be given priority in hiring.

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