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Croatia needs to connect its tourism and hospitality management curriculums and other vocational curriculums with the private sector as soon as possible because that is the only way for the private sector to get qualified and skilled labour it needs to become competitive on the market, Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin said on Monday evening after visiting a tourism school in Bad Gleichenberg, near Graz, in Austria. The school offers an excellent education in tourism and is an example of good practice, preparing students for specific work in the tourist sector as soon as they leave school. It is privately owned and has about 400 students from 20 countries, including three from Croatia. The school is partly financed from the regional government budget and partly by school fees, while the teachers are paid by the central government.

The tourist season so far, according to figures, is the best one yet and August alone recorded a 10% increase in arrivals and 4.5% increase in overnights, Croatian Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin told a news conference on Monday, presenting the results of this year's tourist season. He stressed that in the first eight months of this year, the number of tourist arrivals was up 5.4% and the number of overnights increased by 3.3%. Lorencin added that the ministry stood by its forecast that this tourist season could yield similar results as last year's season and the overall income could go up between two and three per cent.

Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin holds that golf is one of key products in the tourist trade which can extend the duration of tourist season in Croatia and attract a new segment of guests. Marking the completion of the Golf & Country Club Zagreb investment in the Croatian capital at a ceremony on Friday, the minister described the project as important for the city and the interior of Croatia. In Mediterranean countries, golf courses are concentrated mainly in coastal tourist destinations, and they have six golf courses per one million tourist arrivals on the average, while Croatia's rate is 0.32 courses per million tourist arrivals. However, Croatia's favourable climate for this sport and its closeness to central and eastern European countries from where golfers come are advantages it should make use of, Lorencin said.