engleski

Tourism and hospitality education in Croatia – present and future

The development and the stimulation of tourism competitiveness does not necessarily include only the natural resources and the improvement of the tourist offer, but asks above all for well trained managers and experts capable to operate and interwork in a turbulent environment. Starting from the definitions of tourism and hospitality, and considering their peculiarities as customer-driven and work- intensive industries, it is obvious that human resources, their competence, skills and knowledge are the main prerequisites of success. It is therefore justified to claim that the existence of adequately trained and educated personnel leads to a better satisfaction of tourist and guest wishes and needs and consequently to better business results and development. Education is, under current Croatian scientific-technological circumstances, the precondition and the leading factor of economic development and has become one of the main development issue, thus the quality of human capital becomes an important development resource. It represents the most important non tangible investment and the condicio sine qua non for development. Based on the importance of tourism and education for Croatian economic development, the paper is an overview of Croatian education for tourism and hospitality. It analyzes the structure, the number, and the spatial distribution of secondary schools and of higher education institutions that provide a degree on tourism and hospitality. There are 93 vocational schools in Croatia, all offering courses leading to professions in tourism and hospitality industry. In the higher education institutions, there are departments within faculties and business schools offering programs on catering, tourism and hospitality, but only the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management of Opatija, University of Rijeka, is entirely oriented and dedicated to the education of managers and professional in tourism and hospitality. On the assumption that, tourism and hospitality industry are the most propulsive Croatian economic sectors, it is important to investigate if the number and the distribution of vocational schools and high institutions dealing with tourism and hospitality education is satisfying, to examine the characteristics of their teaching curriculums and most of all modalities of pupils/student’s transition from school to work as well as students’ motivation in undertaking a carrier in the field of tourism and hospitality. The aim of the paper is to investigate the advantages and the disadvantages of studying tourism and hospitality in Croatia, to give an oversight of the present situation and to propose some guidelines for the future.

tourism, education, Croatia, vocational schools, faculties, education for tourism and hospitality.

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