People are the key to success in tourism - competent, professional and skilful. Such employees are increasingly in demand and are necessary to achieve competitive positions in the national and international markets.
Croatia is a tourist destination, the number of visitors increases year after year, trends change, tourist have new demands, express new needs - all of that requires continuous monitoring and adapting, training and development, but also providing new staff. It is only possible to successfully respond to the dynamic of the tourist trends by encouraging children and young adults to embark on a career in tourism, introducing them early on to the possibilities and challenges that tourism offers, but also by investing in the quality and standard of education.
Interest of young people for tourism
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports conducted a pilot research that precedes a more comprehensive research on young people in tourism, their education and employment in tourism.
The key research findings:
- For many young people in Croatia working in hospitality and tourism, either as full-time or seasonal employees, is an integral part of their life activities. According to this research that has been conducted on a sample of 301 persons between ages 16 and 29, 9% is currently working in the tourism and hospitality sector or are studying for jobs in tourism and hospitality. In addition, as many as two thirds of persons in this age group (65%) have performed seasonal work in tourism at least once (at least for a few days). More than a half (58%) of those who had until now performed seasonal work at least once, did so during one or two tourist seasons. Such a widespread experience with seasonal work in this sector is also manifested by the positive attitude that young people have towards work in tourism and hospitality. Namely, 50% of young people have a positive, and 14% have a negative position to working in this sector.
- The largest number of young people who have experience with seasonal work, almost a half (44%) of them, have so far worked as waiters. One quarter worked as salespeople, and one fifth as kitchen helpers, storekeepers, maids / cleaners or receptionists. Among those who worked for three or more seasons as seasonal workers, as many as 41% worked as salespeople. As expected, working in warehouses / loading-unloading of goods, is more characteristic for men, while women more often work as cleaners or maids.
- The main reason young people take seasonal work is profit. As many as 87% of research participants that worked as seasonal workers claim so. Gaining work experience takes the second place (41%), followed by acquiring new knowledge and skills (21%) and meeting new people /social interaction (20%).
- 21% of people who so have so far engaged in seasonal work in hospitality and tourism had to pass some form of training. When this number is projected on the total population aged 16-29, it can be concluded that approximately 14% of people in this age group have so far undergone some form of additional training to perform seasonal work in tourism and hospitality (standard error of this proportion on sample of 300 subjects and at a significance level of 95% is +/-3.9%).
- In terms of satisfaction with certain aspects of the work they performed, research participants experienced in seasonal works are most satisfied with human relations and work atmosphere, salary, relations with superiors, physical working conditions and the organisation of work. More than 50% of subjects were mostly or completely satisfied with these aspects of work. Less than a half of subjects expressed satisfaction with working hours, workload and number of days off per week. The number of days off per week is the aspect of seasonal work that most young people (39) are mostly or completely dissatisfied with.
- 45% of people ages 16-29 show interest for seasonal work in tourism and hospitality in the upcoming season. More specifically, 13% show great interest while 32% say they are somewhat interested. We must add that 13% of subjects show general interest for seasonal work in tourism, but not in the upcoming season. Young people from Dalmatia show most interest for seasonal work in the upcoming season - 22% are very interested in seasonal work in the upcoming season.
- Almost one quarter (22%) of those who are interested in seasonal work in the following year state that they see working in tourism as their log-lasting career. When this number is projected on the total population aged 16-29, it can be concluded that approximately 10% of people in this age group see working in tourism and hospitality as a life-long career option (standard error of this proportion on sample of 300 subjects and at a significance level of 95% is +/-3.9%).
- Most research participants would like to start seasonal work in June or July and finish it in September or October. Most (36%) of those who are interested in seasonal work would like to work at the reception. Working as a salesperson takes second place (33%), followed by waiters (22%) and animators (20%). The least attractive jobs are pastry chefs / bakers, bartenders and kitchen helpers.
- There are three motives that usually create interest for seasonal work - profit, acquiring new knowledge and skills, gaining work experience. Profit is the main motive for possible seasonal employment in the following year. Namely, 72% of those who show interest for seasonal work in the upcoming season state financial reasons as their main motive. 28% of interested parties emphasize acquiring new knowledge and skills as their motive for seasonal work, and 27% of interested parties emphasise gaining work experience.
- Among those who show interest for seasonal work in the following year, 61% of them are very or fairly interested in additional education/ training. Among them, 13% are very interested in additional education, while 48% are fairly interested. Two thirds of those who are very or fairly interested in training show interest in learning foreign languages, while half of them are interested in learning specific knowledge and skills necessary for a specific profession.
- The main reasons for disinterest in seasonal work in tourism and hospitality is full-term employment on another job and the opinion that seasonal work is not paid enough. Namely, 45% of those who are not interested in working in tourism find their reasons in the fact that they are already employed, while 29% of them believe that, considering how difficult those jobs are, they do not pay enough. Consequently, 45% of them state that a higher salary would be the main motive for their engagement in seasonal work.
- The activities of regional centres of competence in the tourism and hospitality sector are largely unknown to persons aged 16-29. Namely, only 1% of subjects is well informed about the work performed by these centres, 52% heard of such centres, but they do not know what they do, while 47% never heard of them.
- In the end, research results show that most young people (79%) that are currently studying for jobs in tourism and hospitality or are already employed in this sector, made the decision on their own.
RECOMMENDATIONS that arise from the research:
1. Introduce young people to the existence of the Regional centres of competence and their role, i.e., what they offer to young people
Among those that are interested in seasonal work in the following year, 60% of them are very or fairly interested in additional education/ training, which indicates that there is interest among young people. But only 1% of the target group is well acquainted with existence of Regional centres of competence, while most do not know what their role is or have never heard of them. That is why it is necessary to introduce young people to the role and advantages that Regional centres of competence offer to young people through directed promotional activities, and especially to the possibilities of remote studying, internships, scholarships and further improvement and education.
2. Communicate to young people that there is a need of labour in tourism and to employers that young people are interested in seasonal work, bearing in mind the current barriers
Considering that 45% of young people are interested in seasonal work in the upcoming season (among which 22% consider it as a long-term career), primarily due to profit and gaining working experience, it is necessary to communicate to them that there is a need for labour force.
At the same time, it is necessary to communicate to employers that there is an interest among young people, but that, on the other hand, reasons for indifference are the perception of a low salary in relation to the amount of workload, distrust towards employers meeting their obligations, and poor housing conditions - those are barriers that employers can focus on in their communication to successfully attract those that are currently indifferent.
EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE
A number of vocational high schools’ projects mostly done by students were financed through the Ministry's programme
Promotion and strengthening of competencies of vocational professions in tourism. The aim of the implementation of the programme is to encourage young people to develop careers in tourism by raising awareness on possibilities that tourism offers professionally, but also to gain some basic skills essential for their professional future, such as team work, project thinking etc.
See project presentations below:
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019/2020
2021
Some of the best projects are:
EVENTS
THE YOUTH IN TOURISM Conference
As part of the programme of the Conference on the Future of Europe, an expert discussion entitled “Youth in Tourism” was organised by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. It sent valuable messages on the importance of the strengthening of the institutional framework for educating and employing young people in tourism and increasing the attractiveness of professions through the European Social Fund.
As part of the first panel discussion on the topic “How to strengthen the institutional framework for education and employment of young people in tourism” advisory guidelines on employment and education of young people in tourism and their perceptions of Regional centres of competence funded by the European Social Fund, developed on the basis of quantitative research, were also presented.
In the second part of the conference, at the panel discussion „ How to increase the attractiveness of occupations in youth tourism through the European Social Fund“, the focus was on young people and their expectations, suggestions and gained experiences in the tourism and hospitality sector, with special emphasis on the investments of the institutions in education and training, as well as on promotion of professions in the tourism and hospitality sector. The panel participants concluded that special attention will be paid to the work of Regional centres of competence in the tourism and hospitality sector, and to their role in the improvement of the quality of education and adapting the education to market needs with the aim of strengthening human resources competitiveness in the tourism and hospitality sector.
