Bad Season or the End of the Mass- Tourism

Budva – This years’ pre-season has exposed all the shortcomings, but also the challenges which Montenegrin tourist would face in the upcoming five years’ period. While our aim remains to become a destination for the rich tourists - which had been warmly advised by the foreign experts, that is to make a clear barrier between mass and elite tourism – one thing is certain: the decrease in the number of visitors spending their holidays in the private accommodation is a good signal that we are on the right path.

Bearing in mind the estimates of tourism experts that the private accommodation provides some 250,000 beds – the number which has, most certainly increased by one fifth following this years’ intensive building season – it is evident that full use of these capacities in high season would create at total collapse with pressure that number of visitors would pose for the limited capacity of Montenegrin beaches, water and power supply.

Good start of the pre-season, excellent use of capacities during April and May have smoothened down the bad results which are evident at the beginning of June, despite official statements on the positive number of visitors.

Building season which failed to stop despite the arrival of the tourists is one of the main reasons, alongside bad weather and high prices, for the fact that the June wave of visitors had not been as intense as it had been expected.

According to the estimates of Budva’s Association of Tourist Agencies, Svetlana Vejnovic, several problems came to surface during this pre-season.

“The first problem is the increase in prices of hotel and private accommodation by estimated 20 to 30 percent in comparison to the previous year. Then, the increase in the fuel prices also influenced the situation, as Montenegro remains to be an air-destination. Construction works also had negative impact. All this had resulted with a decreased number of guests from Russia”, Vejnovic said.

Steady annual increase of the number of guests, in words of the president of Montenegrin Tourist Association, Predrag Jelusic, should indeed remain the phenomenon of the past times, as, in his words, only a mild increase of three to five percent stands as evidence that the quality of the destination is improving.

“Generally speaking, this pre-season is better than the previous one. I believe that the season itself would have an upward sloping trend of three to five percent. If number of guests had increased by 15 to 20 percent over the past seasons, and we want to, at the same time, attract the guests with better financial capabilities, this should not be our aim.

Quality of our offer should be built upon mild increase in the number of guests, and those guests should be the ones who will be able to pay for this quality”, Jelusic said.

In his words, Montenegro has now entered a phase of transformation of its’ offer in order to meet the demands of the guests with higher financial capabilities, which had been the strategic goal.

“During this period, we need to stabilize our tourist offer and clarify which markets are interested to us. We will have to face the consequences of the construction works during the season, which are a necessity, as we must build traffic, water supply and hotel infrastructure”, Jelusic said.

When it comes to statistic, this pre-season is still more successful that the previous one, which is also confirmed by the director of the National Tourist Organization, Sasa Radovic, who confirmed that the number of guests over the first five months of the year had been higher by 15 percent, while the number of overnight stay had increased in comparison to the same period last year by one third.

“At this moment, there is 33,155 tourists staying in Montenegro, which is five percent more than during the same period last year. Out of this number, 20,000 tourists are staying in Montenegrin hotels.

In cooperation with the Faculty for Tourism and Hotel Management from Kotor and the Institute for Market Research from Munich, National Tourist Organization has started with the realization of the project to conduct a survey among the guests staying in Montenegrin hotels.

This project includes 27 hotels, in which 4,000 questionnaires would be filled up. We are quantifying the quality of our offer, through the opinions of our guests, that is we are quantifying to what extent the guests are pleased with their stay in Montenegro.

Results of this survey would be our starting point in the creation of our future tourist offer”, Radovic maintained.

Discouraging Results

Bar – According to the most recent data of Bar’s Tourist Organization, 4,645 guests have been registered in the area between Kufin and Vidikovac, which is by 12 percent higher than during the same period last year. Out of this figure, 4,479 are foreign guests, which is 18 percent more than in 2007.

The number of tourists staying in hotels is higher by one fifth and now comes up at 2,151 guests, while company hostels and private accommodation host 1,678 and 806, respectively, which is four times more than in 2007.

“It is the fact that the season has started much earlier and that the number of foreigners had increased. Prices in Bar are very competitive to other Montenegrin towns and neighboring countries. Complaints are that a little bit more should be invested in the outer esthetics of the objects, as well as innovate our services and offer”, Director of Bar’s Tourist Organization, Neda Ivanovic tells Vijesti.

Despite the statistics, what can actually bee seen at bars and beaches at Utjeha is far from optimistic.

“We have much less tourists than during the same period last year. I think that the bad weather and Football Championship are equally to blame”, “Rocky Beach” owner at Utjeha, Dragan Djurovic says.

Despite the fact that Susanj stands as one of the biggest tourist destinations on the territory of Bar Municipality, June has not been impressive here either.

“It is evident that the number of guests is smaller”, vice-president of local authority at Susanj, Rajko Milic states.

President of the local authority at neighboring Sutomore-Spic, Ratko Vujosevic, who is also the owner of local hotel “Sirena Marta”, says that the season so far in Sutomore had never been worse before.

“June was a catastrophe, because of the construction works, dust and all the other issues that came with these works. I could not even open my hotel, which had worked as of 1 May last year. I have already cancelled on two groups of Lithuanians who wanted to spend their holidays here for the seventh consecutive year and I am considering pressing charges against the Ministry of Tourism in order to receive compensation for the Euro 25,000 I have lost”, Vujosevic said.

Some People Give Up When They Hear the Prices

Herceg Novi – Despite the fact that the data of Tourist Organization of Herceg Novi state that the number of visitors is now close to 6,000 which is by 17% higher than it had been during last year, while the number of visitors hosted in private accommodation is higher by 79%, tourist workers have various notions suggesting otherwise. Their estimates range from conclusions that the hotels capacities are in the full use to the notions that the number of people of the beaches is visibly smaller.

The biggest number of visitors, like had been the case over the passed years, is marked at Igalo. One part of Igalo’s health Institute, which has 550 beds is full, while the other has 300 empty beds out of 800.

Director of Tourism at this Institute, Zeljko Andric says that number of visitors exceeds last years’ figures. Prices are higher by seven to eight percent.

“It is much worse than during the same period last year. It is obvious that the number of guests’ arriving has increased over the past couple of days, but we have had much more visitors and people on daily trips in May last year”, a clerk with the Tourist Agency “Black Mountain” at Herceg Novi’s bus stop says.

She explains that the decrease in the number of tourists can be explained with the football championship and that the situation had been the same during earlier similar sports’ events.

Other agencies at Herceg Novi Riviera, like “Vega” agency at Baosici, claim that the number of visitors is smaller.

“Figures are lower than in 2007. Some people give up as soon as they hear over phone that the prices are higher.

Guests mostly want higher category of accommodation, apartments and first category rooms, with own bathroom. Guests are mostly from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as had been the case over the past years”, Slavica Dabovic of “Vega” says.

At Riviera, for instance at Baosici, which has the biggest number of visitors in comparison to the same period last year, the accommodation on the coast can be found at the price of Euro 10 per night, while the accommodation above the regional road costs Euro 7 to 8.

By: V.LAJOVIĆ- R.P.-S.R.