It seems the old saying about just not being able to get the staff applies to Croatia's most popular destination too.
The hustle and bustle of Dubrovnik's impossibly busy tourist season is just around the corner and it's hardly surprising that Croatia's southernmost city is already breaking records in everything from numbers to temperatures, but would you believe it - the Pearl of the Adriatic just can't get the staff!
According to a report by Portal Oko, Dubrovnik cannot seem to access enough manpower to meet the ever growing demands of a successful tourist city. Although people like owners of private accommodation are generally the masters of their own time and jobs, it can be extremely difficult to be the boss and do all the necessary work to keep things up to scratch, let alone be greatly successful. With less time on their hands, and guests and private renters increasingly expecting full, hotel-like services in order to get their money's worth - landlords are getting tired out. Amazingly, cleaners are among the most difficult to come across.
It is estimated that about 2,000 seasonal workers are ''missing'' in Dubrovnik and caterers are among those with the biggest of problems, with remarks being made about missing the quality of the labour force. With a rapidly increasing number of arrivals and overnight stays, which has naturally become the main objective of Croatian tourism as a whole, it is widely expected that this peculiar problem will simply continue to grow.
When we seem to hear nothing but alarming youth unemployment figures, and read nothing but heart-wrenching stories of young Croats having to pack up and leave, swapping Osijek for Dublin or Vukovar for Frankfurt, it will undoubtedly come as a shock to many to hear that the one of the richest Croatian cities is lacking up to 2,000 workers and that bosses are solemly talking about the only solution to the issue being ''the importation of labour from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia or elsewhere''.
Professions on the list of the most sought-after in Dubrovnik include, in no particular order: waiters, cooks, kitchen assistants, cleaners and salesmen.
