The leader of the Union of Tourism and Services Sector Workers (STUH), Eduard Andric, said on Tuesday that the early tourist season was starting with fewer tourism workers than before, the reason being lack of competitiveness caused by poor working conditions, the short duration of the season, non-payment of salaries and salaries being too low, a poor structure of tourism services, and under-used and unrenovated accommodation facilities.
Speaking to reporters in Rijeka, Andric said that problems in the tourism sector were the same as five years ago - undeclared work and the number of fixed-term work contracts exceeding the number of permanent work contracts.
One of the problems is also the fact that the tourist season lasts not more than three months, which often causes job loss and termination of work contracts, he said.
The lack of competitiveness is due to excessive public spending, problems with VAT, para-fiscal contributions and the overvalued national currency, said Andric, adding that there were not enough hotels due to corruption in the process of privatisation and lack of appropriate state policies. This is why private accommodation facilities and camping sites are the prevailing types of tourist accommodation facilities and they generate much lower consumption, Andric said.
Speaking of hotels that have not been privatised, Andric said that their value equaled their debts, which was why the state could neither sell them nor give them away for free. Some kind of solution should be found, for example by writing off part of those debts, Andric said.
He criticised the government for doing little to help the tourism sector with systematic policies, noting that rival tourist destinations were offering better and cheaper services.
This year, some 35,000 seasonal workers are expected to get a job in tourism (as against some 25,000 last year). About 50,000 workers in the tourism sector have permanent work contracts.
