As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, so far, a total of 60 candidates from all over the Republic of Croatia, including elementary school students, have participated in the “Get to know our stories” project run by the association of Croatian luxury hotels Stories.
It’s a project that Stories is implementing with the co-financing of the Ministry of Tourism in the amount of 23 thousand kuna, and the support of associated partners, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), the Faculty of Economics of the University of Split, the Faculty of Management in Tourism and Hospitality, the School of Tourism and Hospitality Split and Zagreb School of Economics and Management.
After applying and submitting their cover letters, sixteen students in the final grades of primary school, 37 students of secondary tourism and hospitality schools, and seven students of business schools and colleges with a specialisation in tourism were selected. Over more recent days, they’ve been busy visiting various different facilities and looking for opportunities for their future careers in the Croatian luxury hotels.
“Individual tours of different Stories hotels are currently underway, as part of which elementary and high school students have the opportunity to get better acquainted with different hotel departments and professions and get advice for starting a career in tourism directly from the employees themselves. Selected high school students have already participated in the open door class organised as part of the Personalised service and upselling in small luxury hotels course at the Lone hotel in Rovinj, and the same course is being held at the Briig Boutique Hotel in Split,” explained Antonia Urlic, the director of the Stories Group, who hopes that the project will continue over the coming years.
The Stories Group was founded back in 2017 at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce with the aim of positioning Croatian luxury hotels as strongly as possible on the global luxury tourism market. There are currently seventeen hotels in it, and most of these establishments are the winners of international awards, several of them are members of renowned international hotel associations, with two restaurants having one Michelin star, and several of them are highly recommended.
“We’re very glad that our project, recognised by the Ministry of Tourism as one of the projects that will contribute to the promotion of professions in tourism, has aroused such interest and that pupils and students from all over Croatia have contacted us because they see their future careers being in the hotel industry. The hotels which make up the Stories Group employ around 1,000 people, and the key to the highly personalised service they provide lies in each individual. It’s a pleasure for us to be able to motivate and inspire young people to develop careers in tourism”, said Nenad Nizic, the president of the Stories Group and theI owner of the Vestibul Palace Split hotel.
It’s worth noting that the aforementioned ministry has allocated a total of 2.84 million kuna for nineteen projects for this competition, which encourages cooperation between vocational schools and employers and strengthens the attractiveness of tourism-oriented occupations.
“Through this cooperation, our students will further improve their practical knowledge and skills, while new hotels from the Stories association have entered our database of over 130 companies and institutions in which our students can get some professional practice. At the Faculty of Economics in Split, we offer university and professional studies in tourism, and we train high-quality staff who are often employed during their studies and can be found in responsible positions within tourism companies and institutions across the region, the country and further abroad. Our students studying Economics and Business Economics, which also has a respectable international EFMD accreditation, also often choose the tourism sector for their career path”, stressed Smiljana Pivčevic, the vice dean for teaching.
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