IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/prp/jattij/v10y2017i2p151-165.html

Employment Experience of Immigrant Workers in Tourism

Author

Listed:
  • Alja Žigo

    (University of Primorska, Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica, Slovenia)

  • Janja Gabruc

    (University of Primorska, Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica, Slovenia)

  • Emil Juvan

    (University of Primorska, Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica, Slovenia)

Abstract

This research explores the experience of immigrants employed in tourism in Slovenia. Four main areas were studied: (1) formal regulation of working and living, (2) health and social care, (3) job satisfaction, and (4) integration into the Slovenian environment. The causes for this research were recent stories in various media regarding foreign workers in Slovenian economy and little to no research studies in the field of tourism. The idea of the article was to demonstrate the employment of labour migrants’ experiences in tourism and to make proposals to improve the employment experience in the future. We started out by studying the existing theory, and then performed qualitative research, in which the employment experiences of four immigrants was studied in the previously mentioned four identified areas. Interviews were carried out with immigrants from different countries and of different professions, and were later evaluated with content analysis. The results of the study show that the employment experience of immigrants employed in tourism in Slovenia is both positive and negative, as there were positive and negative factors of experience identified in all areas of research.We do not want to give a generalised assessment of the experience, but rather show certain views and experiences; based on that, we can learn.The results do not apply to the entire population, but with them we present the diversity of the subject. The greatest limitation while researching was finding participants. Initially, proposals for improvement are given on three levels; government, employer, and society. The main improvement should be the better flow of information, for which we suggest transferring more information online. Slovene society should be striving for tolerance so that foreigners would feel more welcomed.

Suggested Citation

  • Alja Žigo & Janja Gabruc & Emil Juvan, 2017. "Employment Experience of Immigrant Workers in Tourism," Academica Turistica - Tourism and Innovation Journal, University of Primorska Press, vol. 10(2), pages 151-165.
    • Handle: RePEc:prp:jattij:v:10:y:2017:i:2:p:151-165
    DOI: 10.26493/2335-4194.10.151-165
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.hippocampus.si/ISSN/2335-4194/10.151-165.pdf
    File Function: full text in English
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.26493/2335-4194.10.151-165?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Janta, Hania & Ladkin, Adele & Brown, Lorraine & Lugosi, Peter, 2011. "Employment experiences of Polish migrant workers in the UK hospitality sector," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 1006-1019.
    2. Joppe, Marion, 2012. "Migrant workers: Challenges and opportunities in addressing tourism labour shortages," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 662-671.
    3. Baum, Tom, 2015. "Human resources in tourism: Still waiting for change? – A 2015 reprise," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 204-212.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lugosi, Peter & Ndiuini, Ann, 2022. "Migrant mobility and value creation in hospitality labour," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    2. Ivlevs, Artjoms & Smith, Ian, 2023. "Do International Tourist Arrivals Change Residents' Attitudes Towards Immigration? A Longitudinal Study of 28 European Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 15953, IZA Network @ LISER.
    3. Mavrić Bartola & Akova Orhan, 2025. "Unregistered labour in tourism: A bibliometric analysis of immigrant workers’ challenges and research trends," European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, Sciendo, vol. 15(2), pages 341-352.
    4. Barış Erdem & Tuba Türkmendağ & Erkan Akgöz & Tolga Gök, 2021. "Foreign Workers Employment in the Hotel Industry: Evidence from Five-Star Hotels in Antalya," Journal of Tourismology, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 29-53, June.
    5. Artjoms Ivlevs & Ian Smith, 2024. "Do international tourist arrivals change residents’ attitudes towards immigration? A longitudinal study of 28 European countries," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(1), pages 104-131, February.
    6. Baum, Tom & Kralj, Anna & Robinson, Richard N.S. & Solnet, David J., 2016. "Tourism workforce research: A review, taxonomy and agenda," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-22.
    7. Sun, Jiuxia & Ling, Ling & Huang, Zhuowei (Joy), 2020. "Tourism migrant workers: The internal integration from urban to rural destinations," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    8. Kwame Owusu Boakye & Isaac Nyarko Adu & Michael Kyei-Frimpong & Evelyn Twumasi, 2024. "Gaining competitive advantage through integrated talent development and engagement practices in the telecommunication sector; the mediating role of corporate image," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, December.
    9. Barbara Pavlakoviè & Eva Jereb, 2020. "Human Resources in Industrial Tourism," Academica Turistica - Tourism and Innovation Journal, University of Primorska Press, vol. 13(1), pages 51-65.
    10. Chloe Tarrabain & Robyn Thomas, 2024. "The Dynamics of Control of Migrant Agency Workers: Over-Recruitment, ‘The Bitchlist’ and the Enterprising-Self," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(1), pages 27-43, February.
    11. Rafael Robina-Ramírez & M. Isabel Sánchez-Hernández & Carlos Díaz-Caro, 2021. "Hotel manager perceptions about corporate compliance in the tourism industry: an empirical regional case study in Spain," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(2), pages 627-654, June.
    12. Robinson, Danielle & MacDonald, Terri, 2019. "Tourism workforce development in the Kootenay-Rockies," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 204-207.
    13. Gul Shah Sabary & Lukáš Durda & Arif Ibne Asad & Aleksandr Kljuènikov, 2023. "Key motivational factors behind Asian immigrant entrepreneurship: A causal relationship analysis employing the DEMATEL approach for Germany," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 18(1), pages 287-318, March.
    14. Orestis Papadopoulos & Gregoris Ioannou, 2023. "Working in hospitality and catering in Greece and the UK: Do trade union membership and collective bargaining still matter?," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 29(2), pages 105-122, June.
    15. Daniel Dorta-Afonso & Manuel González-de-la-Rosa & Francisco J. García-Rodríguez & Laura Romero-Domínguez, 2021. "Effects of High-Performance Work Systems (HPWS) on Hospitality Employees’ Outcomes through Their Organizational Commitment, Motivation, and Job Satisfaction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    16. Evangelos Christou & Anestis Fotiadis & Antonios Giannopoulos, 2025. "Generative KI als Akteur im Tourismus: Rekonzeptualisierung der Co‑Kreation von Erlebnissen, der Governance von Destinationen und der verantwortungsvollen Innovation in der synthetischen Erlebnisökonomie [Generative AI as a tourism actor: Reconcep," Post-Print hal-05191936, HAL.
    17. Chris F Wright & Angela Knox & Andreea Constantin, 2021. "Using or abusing? Scrutinising employer demand for temporary sponsored skilled migrants in the Australian hospitality industry," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 42(4), pages 937-959, November.
    18. Yujie Sun & Teiji Watanabe, 2021. "Tourism-Related Facility Development in Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park and Buffer Zone, Nepal Himalaya," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-20, September.
    19. Solnet, David & Robinson, Richard N.S. & Baum, Tom & Yan, Hongmin, 2022. "Tourism work, media & COVID-19: A changed narrative?," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    20. Xie, Jinghua & Tveterås , Sigbjorn, 2018. "The Oil Price Collapse and the Birth of a Tourist Nation," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2018/3, University of Stavanger.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:prp:jattij:v:10:y:2017:i:2:p:151-165. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Alen Jezovnik (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://academica.turistica.si .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.