CROATIA | TATJANA JOSIPOVIĆ 10 5 4. RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS IN THE FIELD OF TOURISM In Croatia, individual tourism services are considered regulated professions51, and so, both national and foreign providers, to exercise their profession, must possess specific professional qualifications and education (e.g. tourist guides or tourist agency operations managers). The possession of professional qualifications is then established in administrative proceedings in which a competent authority renders an approval decision for the performance of tourism services. Moreover, foreign professional qualifications must be recognised, so they can provide services in Croatia or provide, temporarily or occasionally, their cross-border tourism services. The provision of tourism services in Croatia, particularly tourist guide services, corresponds to the provision of such services in many other EU Member States where they are also organised as regulated professions52. The information published in the EU Regulated Professions Database53 shows that tourist guides rank fifth among the most temporary mobile professions in the EU. In the period from 2007 to 2020, a total of 5181 declarations were registered (and exceptionally decisions) for temporary provision of guide services within the EU Member States, the EEA countries and Switzerland (Figure 7). Of the total number of tourist guides performing cross-border tourist services on a temporary basis from 2008-2019, 9.69% of them were hosted in Croatia, the country being among the top five host countries, after Italy and Lithuania, where tourist guides from other EU MS provide tourist services on a temporary basis (mostly with the qualifications obtained in Slovenia) (Figure 8). 51 There are special requirements in the tourism sector for the provision of tourist business services for tourist agencies, tourist agency operations managers, tourist guides, tourist escorts, agency representatives, tourist diving services, vessels of nautical tourism, car rental services (rent-a-car), tourism services of active and adventure tourism, services of rental of sports and recreational equipment for tourists, tourism services in nautical tourism, tourism services on agricultural farms, aquatic organism breeding sites, hunting grounds, privately owned forests and fishing tourism. Information for specific tourism services on the right of establishment and freedom of occasional/temporary provision of services in tourism, catering, accommodation sectors available in http://psc.hr/en/sectoral-requirements/.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==