Lorencin: Tourism education should be linked with private sector

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.

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 school's principal Wolfgang Haas said they were not collaborating with any vocational schools in Croatia, but would like to.

Lorencin visited the school on the first day of his two-day visit to Styria. Earlier in the day in Graz he met with representatives of the regional government for talks on their experience in absorbing EU funds and on investment possibilities in the Croatian tourist industry. Also discussed were ways of further strengthening cooperation between Croatia and Austria, and Styria's experience in creating new tourism products.

The Croatian delegation included representatives of the ministries of construction, environmental protection, enterprise, economy, labour, and education. (Hina)

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