Education system as a factor of tourism development in Croatia

The purpose of this paper was to point to the characteristics of secondary (STE) and higher tourism education (HTE) in Croatian tourism and to stress its shortcomings that directly affect the qualification structure and the quality of those employed within tourism in the Republic of Croatia. Hypothesis was that in order to increase the quality and competitiveness of Croatian tourism it is necessary to increase the number of highly educated experts in all business organizations in tourism. Methodology – General scientific deduction and analysis methods were used to interpret the secondary data sources. The secondary data were collected from statistical reports, scientific and professional articles, and some Internet web sites. Additionally, the primary research was also conducted; to evaluate the efficiency of each education level the Delphi method of surveying experienced tourism experts was used. Approach – Efficiency of work in tourism, regarded as a labour-intensive economic activity, is the basic factor of labour efficiency and competitiveness, and consequently of economic effects in tourism. A specific characteristic of tourism is that it evaluates, on an economic basis and through labour and capital, natural and sociocultural resources, thus producing added value. Starting from the fact that the employment function is one of the most important economic functions of tourism, this paper investigates and presents the role of formal education system (STE and HTE) in education of experts who would prospectively work in tourism in the Republic of Croatia. Findings – Although the results of this analysis of STE and HTE system for tourism purposes in the Republic of Croatia makes it possible to say that there are relevant institutions and quality personnel that participate in this education process, when employment be taken into account, then the lack of highly educated experts (university and polytechnic level) becomes evident for tourism purposes in practice. The quality of experts working in top-management positions in tourism is also unsatisfactory. The originality of the research results from the fact that the primary research was conducted to test the hypothesis. This research confirmed the hypothesis of the paper that to increase the quality and competitiveness of Croatian tourism it is necessary to increase the share of highly educated experts working in tourism.