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AN EXTRACT FROM THE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT STRATEGYOF MONTENEGRO UNTIL THE YEAR 2020

“Montenegro has to build up its USP (Unique Selling Point – uniqueproduct), because even beauty itself and preservation of its land-scapes and nature help it create a significant comparative advan-tage with regards to its Mediterranean competition.

The landscapes, climate, fauna, and flora generate priceless eco-nomic value. Not only does their preservation, but also improve-ment and promotion - provide the present and future of the tourismeconomy.”

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PUBLISHERS:

GOVERNMENT OF

MONTENEGRO

MINISTRY OF TOURISM

Minister:Mr. Predrag Nenezić

Secretary of the Ministry:Mrs. Željka Radak Kukavičić

PR:Mrs. Jelena Paović

Address:Rimski trg 46

81000 PodgoricaMontenegro

Phones:+382 (0)20 482 333+382 (0)20 482 334+382 (0)20 234 116

Fax:+382 (0)20 234 168

E-mail:[email protected]

Web site:www.mt.gov.me

NATIONAL TOURISM

ORGANISATION OF

MONTENEGRO

Managing Director:Mr. Saša Radović

Address:Rimski trg 47

81000 PodgoricaMontenegro

Phone:+382 (0)20 235 155

Fax:+382 (0)20 235 159

Call center:1300

E-mail:[email protected]

Web site:www.montenegro.travel

This Bulletin is printed on

recycled paper.

TABLE PRESENTING RESULTS OF THE TOURISM SEASON

FOR THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF 2009

January- July

2008

January- July

2009*

Index

2009/2008

Tourists 609.138 581.726 0.95

- national 90.458 75.625 0.83

- foreign 518.680 506.101 0.97

Overnigts 3.694.653 3.472.973 0.94

- national 433.576 431.063 0.99

- foreign 3.261.077 3.041.910 0.93

* Official MONSTAT data for the first six months and estimation of the Tourism In-spection for July

July 2009

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Minister of Tourism, Predrag Nenezićpresided over the 4th meeting of theoperational body which was formedin order to alleviate the negative ef-fects of the global crises. The Direc-tor of the National TourismOrganisation of Montenegro, SašaRadović, the Director of the HotelDepartment of CTU (MontenegrinTourism Association), ŽarkoRadulović, the Chairman of theBoard of Directors of MontenegroAirlines, Zoran Đurišić, the Commer-cial Director of Montenegro Airlines,Dejan Bojanić, the Director of “Adri-atic Express” and representative ofCTU, Branko Kažanegra and the Di-rector of the NTO of Montenegro Of-fice in Frankfurt, Karlo Petelini attended the meeting.

During the meeting they have discussed about preparatoryactivities for the 2010 season. It has been concluded thatpreparations for the next season have started earlier thanever, because packages are being contracted, capacitiesare being booked, air flights scheduled, and cataloguesprinted on the largest source markets. During the meetingthey considered to establish next year a charter and sched-uled flights to as many airports as possible in differentsource markets: Germany, Scandinavia, Great Britain whilekeeping the existing flights.

Representatives of the tourism industry informed those pres-ent about all activities concerning collaboration of our hotelsand tourist agencies with foreign tour operators, concludedtourism packages, realised turnover and gave their view ofthe situation and advice how to make the collaboration bet-ter and more efficient.

In order to provide support to the activities of the Governmentand tourism economy the airline company Montenegro Airlinesestablished earlier new flights to Niš, Priština, Skopje, Copen-hagen and Düsseldorf, and on the existing flights towards Eu-ropean destination gave significant discount to tourists that havemade reservations for packages in Montenegro.

Minister of Tourism, Predrag Nenezić emphasised that thetourism season is proceeds in accordance with the Govern-ment assessments, and in order to annul losses from thepre-season it is necessary to make good preparations forthe post-season. The Minister announced preparations forthe next tourism season.

The Minister concluded that in his Ministry they are satisfiedwith the tourism season. According to his words everythingis being carried out according to plan and expectations;

THE FORTH MEETING OF THE OPERATIONAL TEAM FOR PREPARING AND MONITORING THE TOURISM SEASON HELD

however Nenezić emphasises that it is necessary to moni-tor the situation because changes are occurring every dayon the market.

Predrag Nenezić: "We are not dissatisfied, and I think thatwe can expect a good peak season but what is crucial nowis the post-season and good results in the post-seasonwhich we still cannot forecast, in order to annul the minuseswhich we achieved in the pre-season as well as all the othertourism destinations in the region and really even wider.”

The Ministry of Tourism, Montenegro Airlines and tourism en-trepreneurs have already started with preparations for thenext tourism season. As it has been explained, on interna-tional markets packages are being contracted, capacities arebeing bought up in advance and air flights are being sched-uled now, and the aim of Montenegro is to next year win overtourists from Central European countries which travel most.Minister Nenezić emphasised the fact that it is very importantin this and next year to try and establish charter flights whichare before all in the function of tourism transport, but whichwill be in the function of scheduled transport at as many air-ports as possible, and that they hope that the number of air-ports will be significantly larger than earlier, when speakingabout Germany, Scandinavia and Great Britain with of coursethe existing flights which have been of invaluable importanceeven until now for our tourism.

The Chairman of the Board of Director of Montenegro Air-lines, Zoran Đurišić mentioned that in the company they arenegotiating about acquiring two new airplanes, one in May2010 and the other until 2011, with which Montenegro wouldbe providing a completely modern and new fleet.

The effects of the economic crises will also be felt next yearand the aim of the Ministry is to meet the next tourism sea-son readily, concluded Nenezić.

The Ministry of Tourism and the National TourismOrganisation of Montenegro organised on 17 Julyin Andrijevica a one-day promotional and educa-

tional event for nature lovers. The event gathered manyguests, among which were representatives of the diplo-matic chorus, ambassadors of : USA, Bulgaria, Bosniaand Herzegovina, Ukraine, Croatia, then representa-tives from the Dutch Organisation for Development,Austrian Agency for Development, Office for SustainableDevelopment, donor and nongovernmental organisa-tions, representatives of LTOs, Mountaineering Federa-tion of Montenegro, Bicycling Association and manyother guests.

Those present were welcomed at the katun Štavna bythe Director of the National Tourism Organisation, SašaRadović, who emphasised the importance of improvingthe hiking & biking offer of this region for perspective de-velopment for the purpose of tourism. He mentionednew development opportunities of mountain tourism which arebased on what Andrijevica offers.

The program contained two tours: a biking tour 15km long, anda mountain hiking tour 10km long, which were picked by theguests according to their preferences. After the hiking & bikingtour to the place Konjuhe a presentation of the project “Hiking &Biking” was prepared in hotel Komov” in Andrijevica.

Minister of Tourism, Predrag Nenezić informed the guests aboutthe status of the project and planned activities. He said that dur-ing 2008/09 the national network of trails has been identified and

selected. Thelegal frameworkon mountain trailshas been roundedup which regu-lates the condi-tions and the waythe hiking trail net-work is set, theirclassification andcategorisation, aswell as other is-sues related to li-censing andtraining of moun-taineering guides.“Around 1000kmof trails have beenmarked, of whicharound 700kmhas been docu-mented, or pre-pared for setting

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up signposts. The business development of spe-cialised agencies for hiking and biking has grown for20-50% since 2007. During 2009 the “Bed & bike” in-ternational quality and service standard will be intro-duced in Montenegro, then “Wild beauty resorts”, “Ecolodges” in national parks and other. The market indi-cators shows the average spending of a mounting bikerup to €100 per day while their average incomes are€1800-1900 which speaks about the economic poten-tial of this target group. A large group of tour operators from several Europeancountries, connected with domestic agencies. visitedMontenegro in June”.

This opportunity was used to promote the book abouttrails “Wilderness Biking Montenegro”, by the authorRade Minić, whose publication, as a result of work andresearch over many years also encompasses tourismmaps in English and German Languages. The bookrepresents, both in terms of content and paper quality,tearproof and waterproof, the first book of this type inEurope in which 17 trails have been marked with pho-tos and explanations on 250 pages.

You can find more details about it at

www.mapsolutions.de/MTB-Book

PROMOTION OF THE PROJECT ”HIKING & BIKING” AND THEBOOK ”WILDERNESS BIKING MONTENEGRO”

The program contained two tours: a biking tour15km long, and a mountain hiking tour 10kmlong, which were picked by the guests accordingto their preferences. After the hiking & bikingtour to the place Konjuhe a presentation of theproject “Hiking & Biking” was prepared in hotelKomov” in Andrijevica.

July 2009

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Minister ofTourism, PredragNenezić and Di-rector of the Na-tional TourismO r g a n i s a t i o n ,Saša Radovićheld a press brief-ing about thisyear’s summertourism season onMonday, 20 July this year.

On that occasion, MinisterNenezić emphasised that thisyear’s tourism season, consider-ing that it is being carried out inconditions of the global financialand economic crises, is specificand unpredictable for all tourismdestinations worldwide. So weare dealing this year, like the restof the world, with new challenges,since contracts were being con-cluded much latter than in anyyear earlier and tourists are de-ciding much latter to travel for va-cation, and are dealing withsmaller budgets for that purpose.

The Minister mentioned that due to the fact thatmany markets that are in the focus of our atten-tion have been affected by the crises (markets ofCentral, Western, Northern and Eastern Europeand markets in the region) and that because ofthat a certain number of national currencies haveweakened in relation to Euro, which has addition-ally influenced the decision where to travel thisyear on vacation, at the beginning of the seasontroublesome data were recorded and two-digitrates of decrease. However, in June and first andsecond week of July we have managed to the largest extent to reduce those negative growth rates to one digit, and the pre-vious weekend is the first one that recorded positive trends if compared to previous year, in terms of the same physical in-dicators for the same period last year.

MINISTER OF TOURISM, PREDRAG NENEZI] AND DIRECTOR OFTHE NTO, SA[A RADOVI] HELD A PRESS BRIEFING WITH

REGARD TO THE CURRENT TOURISM SEASON

20 July 2009

On that occasion, Minister Nenezić emphasised that this year’stourism season, considering that it is being carried out in con-ditions of the global financial and economic crises, is specificand unpredictable for all tourism destinations worldwide. Sowe are dealing this year, like the rest of the world, with newchallenges, since contracts were being concluded much latterthan in any year earlier and tourists are deciding much latter totravel for vacation, and are dealing with smaller budgets for thatpurpose.

The Minister has assessed that those data encourage and show that this sea-son which had a late late start, could be extended in September and October,which would mitigate the minus in the pre-season and this year would practi-cally be close to the previous year in terms of the physical indicators.

The Minister also emphasised that it is necessary that all those who are in thechain of our tourism industry, now that the crowds have started and when dailyover 100 thousand tourists are staying in our country, and thus there is largepressure on the infrastructure, need to double their efforts in order to show ourguests, that even in these extraordinary conditions for the whole world, Mon-tenegro offers its guests extra quality for their money and that so will be a trendwhich will continue in the future.

Director Radović pointed out that beside the economic crises, such not experi-enced so far in the world, the occurrence of the new flue has also negatively af-fected the world tourism industry as well as the climate changes, and that all effortshave been aimed at mitigating those negative effects. He stated that the mainlever in preparing the tourism season by the NTO was the most intensive promo-tional campaign ever that was successfully carried out in the winter months onthe international market and the last three months in the region, and that the ef-fects of that multi-layer promotion are visible, especially in the last ten days. Be-sides that, the promotional season which in the earlier years ended with thebeginning of the tourism season, will continue this year during the summer monthsthrough activities of the three newly opened offices of the NTO in Frankfurt, Bel-grade and Sarajevo. According to reports of the local tourism organisations in allcoastal towns, the expected summer wave started in the last two weeks and it issure that the so called peak season will last the next six weeks.

Director Radović said that it is important to respond to challenges in the rightway and to welcome and serve all guests in the right way, since it is in this yearthat the “battle” for every guest is conducted and also in the 2010 season forwhich it is also expected to run in extraordinary conditions.

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The Minister has assessed thatthose data encourage and showthat this season which had a latelate start, could be extended inSeptember and October, whichwould mitigate the minus in thepre-season and this year wouldpractically be close to the previ-ous year in terms of the physicalindicators.

Director Radović stated that themain lever in preparing the tourismseason by the NTO was the mostintensive promotional campaignever that was successfully carriedout in the winter months on the in-ternational market and the lastthree months in the region, andthat the effects of that multi-layerpromotion are visible, especially inthe last ten days. Besides that, thepromotional season which in theearlier years ended with the begin-ning of the tourism season, willcontinue this year during the sum-mer months through activities ofthe three newly opened offices ofthe NTO in Frankfurt, Belgrade andSarajevo.

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29 July 2009

Minister of Tourism, Predrag Nenezić and Directorof the National Tourism Organization, SašaRadović held a press briefing in the Best WesternPremier Hotel on Wednesday, 29 July, the secondpress briefing in the month of July, regarding thecurrent tourism season.

The main news on the press conference were related to thefact that Montenegro is the only Mediterranean destinationthat, currently, records an increased number of tourists, asstated by the Government. According to the data of the Na-tional Tourism Organisation, there are around 110 thousandguests currently staying in Montenegro, 4% more than in thesame period previous year, while the general downfall in theMediterranean destinations is around 12-20%.

The Ministry of Tourism announces good hotel occupancyuntil the end of August.

Minister of Tourism, Predrag Nenezić stated that he is verysatisfied with the current occupancy and the number oftourists staying in Montenegro.

”Are we satisfied that the peak season is more noticeablethan it was during the previous years - no we are not, butthat is one of the characteristics of the out of the ordinaryyears. We are showing to tourists that even this year Mon-tenegro has something to boast with”, said Nenezić at thepress conference.

He also stated that this year, because of the global crisis andpoor financial solvency of the guests from all markets, extraprofit could not have been expected, as well as that theprices were lower or at the same level. ”Exactly what wehave projected happened. Now we are free to say that bothhotels and private accommodation are well occupied«,claims Nenezić.

He believes that the people in Montenegro should have a lit-tle bit more faith in themselves, and should keep the goodreputation of Montenegro and bespeaks that it is not nice tocall guests “tomato” tourists.

That is why Nenezić offered apologies to all quests, and re-peated that Montenegro would always be a country openfor all people of the good will and that he hopes that thoseterms would not be used in media again.

He also added that before the critics were because of theempty beaches, and now the problem is that there is a largenumber of tourists but they spend insufficiently.

Director of the NTO, Saša Radović, has stated that the mainchallenge would be the period after the peak season andthe effort to provide good occupancy in September and Oc-tober.

“The peak season has completely met our expectations andour plans”, added Radović.

He also said that, having in mind the results accomplished,Montenegro can be envied even by much more prestigious,competitors’ destinations.

The Ministry announced that good occupancy in the lastcouple of days is also recorded in Žabljak and Kolašin.

Nenezić added that now a great battle to en-gage tourists to come in September, Octoberand November impends.

He also announced that a new ad hoc cam-paign would be organized, and that it is ex-pected that the hotel managements wouldcome out with favourable packages for that pe-riod of the year.

Nenezić repeated that the final results wouldshow that the consumption per tourist hasbeen a bit lower. “We can be satisfied with the overall extra ex-penditure consumption«, Nenezić stated.

He also said that the filling in of budget fromthe profit tax and VAT in June this year, was,as opposed to the same period last year, 0.5%higher, which is considered to be a good indi-cator.

According to the data of the National Tourism Organisation,there are around 110 thousand guests currently staying in Mon-tenegro, 4% more than in the same period previous year, whilethe general downfall in the Mediterranean destinations is around12-20%.

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Minister of Tourism, Predrag Nenezic met with the Ambassadorof the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,H.E. Kevin Lyne in Podgorica on 22 July this year. During thefriendly conversation both parties expressed mutual satisfac-tion with the bilateral relations of two countries and indicatedthe need for intensifying the contact and investigating the pos-sibilities for more intensive cooperation in the area of tourism,environmental protection and economy.

Minister Nenezić informed Ambassador Lyne with the course ofthis year’s season and the number of the guests from the UnitedKingdom. It was pointed out that there was a possibility of in-troducing extra charter airlines, besides regular London-Tivat-London line three times a week, considering the great potentialof this market, as well as interest expressed for the Montenegrintourism offer.

Minister Nenezić also informed Ambassador Lyne with the current situation in Montenegrin tourism, planned investmentsand projects in the Littoral and northern part of Montenegro, as well as with the trends and plans defined in the TourismDevelopment Strategy until the year 2020.

Ambassador Lyne expressed belief that the tourism of Montenegro is being developed in the right direction, consideringthat the institutions responsible for this area have a clear vision and dedication to sustainable-based development whichwill be able to provide benefits and better standard of living to the citizens. He also pointed out the natural resources asa great advantage of Montenegro, with an accent on the potentials of the northern part of our country especially in the areaof sports and health tourism, which would eventually contribute to promote Montenegro as a recognisable tourist desti-nation.

MINISTER NENEZI] MET WITH THE AMBASSADOR OF THEUNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND,

H.E. KEVIN LYNE

MINISTER OF TOURISM, PREDRAG NENEZI] TALKED TO THE AMBAS-SADOR OF THE ITALINA REPUBLIC IN MONTENEGRO H.E. SERGIOBARBANTI AND MEMBERS OF THE MAREAMICO ASSOCIATION

Minister of Tourism Predrag Nenezić met the Ambassador of the Italian Republic in Montenegro H.E. Sergio Barbanti andmembers of the Association "Mareamico: Vice President for Natural Environment, Territory and Public Procurements RobertTortolio, and Secretary General of the Association for Environmental Research Romuald Scotti Bellia.

Representatives of the Association "Mareamico" (Friends of the sea) informed Minister Nenezić with the intention to holdan event dedicated to the sea, under the name "Medsea” in Montenegro at the end of October this year. This event is ofan annual character, the participants are experts from many areas that are related to solving the problems that negativelyaffect the sea, including human activities (ports, transport, energy, coastal tourism, etc.).

This year's "Medsea" will be organized in cooperation with the Mediterranean Region Foundation, Mazara del Vallo Fish-ing Department, Aremedd network, and with the support of the Italian Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea and the Min-istry of Food and Forest Agricultural Policy.

Minister Nenezić pointed out that this event represents an opportunity for promoting Montenegro as a tourist destinationwhich bases its development on the principles of sustainable tourism. The Minister also mentioned that all activities thatcan connect the two countries and have a regional character are priceless.

Minister Nenezić and Ambassador Barbanti expressed satisfaction with former cooperation between the two countries onimplementation of various projects and found that future cooperation should be enhanced.

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chitects and hotel workers, amanual for the creation of lo-cation studies, and as an in-centive to investors andcontractors to engagerenowned planners and archi-tects to help them construct anew generation of economi-cally and ecologically sustain-able “wild beauty” resorts and"wild beauty” Eco Lodges withzero emissions of carbon diox-ide in Montenegro. Minister ofSpatial Planning and Environ-ment, Branimir Gvozdenović,

while presenting to the attendees the way this projectis implemented, stressed that the aim defined in theguide must be implemented in the planning docu-ments. Furthermore, he pointed out that GTZ isworking with the Government of Montenegro onmany projects related to energy efficiency, on defin-ing the standards that should facilitate the work ofplanners, architects, etc. While speaking about pres-ent and future activities Gvozdenović emphasizedthat a significant number of young experts from Mon-tenegro have been hired to work on these projects,and that the Ministry of Spatial Planning and Envi-ronment would keep on strengthening the capacitieswith the necessary support of GTZ.

GTZ Regional Director for Western Balkans, ThomasWaldraff pointed out that tourism, architecture andplanning are closely related, as well as that traditionalarchitecture has to be combined with modern archi-tecture, without threatening the natural balance alongthe way. On that occasion, Waldraff also pointed outthat even this year Montenegrin tourism is markinggood results despite the global economic crisis, andthe results will be similar to the ones from the previousyear, resulting in Montenegro having a better positionin comparison to the neighbouring countries. In hisopinion, even though Montenegro has much morework to do, to direct its tourism product towards theright values, the progress is visible and linking moun-tain and littoral tourism into a single services packagewill enable a very strong position, which will be a per-fect base for the growth of economy and tourismgrowth and development. Waldraff stated that GTZwould continue to support our country in the areas ofspatial planning, architecture, economic efficiency,tourism in the area of marketing, development of "wildbeauty" projects, etc. Considering the fact that moreand more construction companies from Germany areinterested in working in our country, the aim of GTZ isalso to improve that area of cooperation.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE OCCASION OF PRESENTING THEMANUAL FOR ACCOMMODATION FACILITIES

”WILD BEAUTY”

Minister of Tourism, PredragNenezić, Minister of SpatialPlanning and Environment,Branimir Gvozdenović andRegional Director of GTZ(German Society for TechnicalCooperation) for the WesternBalkans Thomas Waldraffheld, on 23 July, a press con-ference on the occasion ofpresenting the manual for ac-commodation facilities "Wildbeauty" (Wild Beauty Re-sorts). On that occasion, Min-ister Nenezić presented theconcept of development of innovative, environmentally efficient, ac-commodation facilities, "Wild Beauty Resorts" in the northern andcentral region of the country, pointing out that this project originatedas part of the cooperation between the Ministry of Tourism, Ministryof Spatial Planning and Environment and GTZ, as well as that it is incompliance with the commitment of Montenegro to develop sustain-able, environmentally friendly tourism.

According to international economic data that show that the hotel sec-tor in the tourism economy traditionally creates up to 70% of the totalrevenue from tourism, the Government has in the Tourism Develop-ment Strategy of Montenegro until the Year 2020 set an objective toincrease the number of tourist accommodation facilities in the centraland northern region for approximately 12,000 beds in hotels andhotel-type accommodation. The new development is aimed to cre-ate a unique type of accommodation capacity that matches the newlifestyle which will have the required prerequisites for the long-awaited economic development of the region and creation of newwork places. The Minister stated that, in order to increase employ-ment, achieve better living standard and stop migration of populationfrom the north, while at the same time following the current trendswith respect to the development of tourism and sustainable develop-ment in general, a decision has been made to create an innovative,environmentally efficient hotel product, and that a very important steptowards this goal is creation of a settlement building concept thatmeets all modern requirements for accommodation of tourists, whichare integrated with nature and in accordance with the tradition of localarchitecture, and which, on the other side, meet all other principles ofenvironmental protection, use renewable energy sources, etc. TheMinister added that it was important to provide tourists with extraor-dinary experience and enable them to enjoy what is authentic in Mon-tenegro as well as to use the rich natural resources potentials in theright way in order to brand our tourism product, especially with re-gard to the northern and central part of the country.

The guide for accommodation facilities called "Wild Beauty Resorts"gives specific criteria and guidelines for their construction, includingbasic assessment of location, hotel and resort facilities and a com-prehensive ecological consideration. It is designed as a practicalurban development and technical guide for investors, contractors, ar-

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PROJECT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MUNICIPALITYOF @ABLJAK PRESENTED

Minister of Tourism, Predrag Nenezić and a representativeof the Italian Ministry of Land, Sea and Environment, Mar-tina Hauser held a press conference in Žabljak on the oc-casion of presentation of the project of sustainabledevelopment of the Municipality of Žabljak. MinisterNenezić informed those present that the Government formany years now has successfully cooperated with the Ital-ian Ministry of Land, Sea and Environment, whose past fi-nancial support for implementation of projects in ourcountry amounts to more than six million euro.

“A number of joint projects were implemented; a lot of themare in the process of realization, starting from the con-struction of an eco-efficient building in Podgorica, devel-opment of agriculture in terms of marketing, a sustainabletransport system in the town of Perast as a pilot project,etc. The project of sustainable development of Kolašin hasshown to be very successful, so we decided that such proj-ect should be carried out in Žabljak too. The idea was sup-ported by colleagues from the Italian Ministry, which willdonate 70,000 euro. The implementation of the projectbegan in a very good moment, because the infrastructureis improved, therefore the new roads will be a good pre-requisite for more intensive tourist arrivals", said Nenezić.

Martina Hauser noted that the bilateral cooperation of theItalian Ministry with the Montenegrin Government preciselythe Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Protectionstarted in 2004. The Italian Ministry of Land, Sea and En-vironment works on similar projects in 48 countries aroundthe world, where they transfer knowledge from variousareas with great success. After numerous projects havebeen implemented in Montenegro, the ItalianMinistry wants to continue the sustainable de-velopment project in Žabljak, where they areplanning to open an office and bring their ownexperts who will, within 15 months, produce aMaster Plan. This will be the basis for the ar-rival of Italian investors, from whom large in-vestments are expected in the future in thedevelopment of the municipality of Žabljak.The Mayor of the Municipality of Žabljak, IsailoŠljivančanin pointed out that, due to cooperationof the two Ministries, Žabljak would get a goodplan that would determine its further develop-ment, tourism progress as the most profitablemunicipal product, and thus raise the popula-tion’s living standard. The plan to be producedby experts from both ministries will be fitted intothe urban-development plan of Žabljak and townarchitecture.

“A number of joint projects were implemented; a lot ofthem are in the process of realization, starting fromthe construction of an eco-efficient building in Pod-gorica, development of agriculture in terms of mar-keting, a sustainable transport system in the town ofPerast as a pilot project, etc. The project of sustain-able development of Kolašin has shown to be verysuccessful, so we decided that such project shouldbe carried out in Žabljak too. The idea was supportedby colleagues from the Italian Ministry, which will do-nate 70,000 euro. The implementation of the projectbegan in a very good moment, because the infra-structure is improved, therefore the new roads will bea good prerequisite for more intensive tourist ar-rivals", said Nenezić.

ACTIVITIES DURING THE PREVIOUS MONTH

Director of the National Tourism Organisation,Saša Radović, met on 29 July this year with theSlovenian Tourism Board Director, Dimitrije Pi-ciga. Both parties expressed satisfaction with co-operation of these two organisations, both inbilateral terms, as well as through joint activitiesthrough the institution of the European Commis-sion for Travel. Piciga congratulated on the goodresults that the Montenegrin tourism industry ismarking in this difficult year.

Piciga conveyed the impressions of the leadingtravel agencies in Slovenia, where there is greatinterest for our coast, but more and more for ad-venture and recreational activities in the Mon-tenegrin mountains and canyons. Thepromotional campaign carried out on the Sloven-ian market is rated as effective and objective, and the im-pressions of the Slovenian tourists are extremely positive.

During the meeting they discussed about the ways for trans-ferring knowledge of Slovenian experts for winter tourism,and accelerating development of Montenegrin ski centresand golf tourism. Also the need for opening a ferry line be-tween Kopar and some of the Montenegrin ports was ex-pressed, which would, together with the abolition of visas forthe citizens of Montenegro in the near future, additionally im-prove tourist traffic between the two countries.

They also discussed about the complementarities of thetourist offers of the two countries and the ways of joint pro-motion on the overseas markets of Japan, The United

States, China and India.

The experiences of the two countries in ways of functioningof the tourist offices abroad, as well as the use of websitesfor promotion and sale of capacities have been discussed.

In the end, both parties expressed satisfaction with the Oc-tober meeting of directors of tourism organisations of mostof the European countries gathered in the European Com-mission for Travel, which will be a good opportunity for situ-ation analyses, as well as for exchange of experience inovercoming the global economic crisis ef-fects and climate change effectsin the sensitive area oftourism.

DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL TOURISM ORGANISATION OFMONTENEGRO, SA[A RADOVI] MET WITH THE DIRECTOR OF

THE SLOVENIAN TOURISM BOARD, DIMITRIJE PICIGA

Jul 2009. godine

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12.

ACTIVITIES DURING THE PREVIOUS MONTH

On 30 July, Deputy Minister of Tourism - NebojšaPopović, Deputy Minister of Transport, MaritimeAffairs and Telecommunications - Srđa Vukčevićand regional GTZ Director for Western Balkans -Thomas Waldraff, have held a press briefing onthe occasion of publication of the Nautical TourismGuide.

Deputy Minister of Tourism, Nebojša Popović,pointed out that the nautical tourism takes a sig-nificant place in the Tourism Development Strat-egy of Montenegro, as well as that allMediterranean countries are evidencing growth innumber of tourists choosing this type of tourismover the last several years. He mentioned thatMontenegro has positioned itself as a tourism des-tination, which can become a leader for this type oftourism in addition to the large natural wealth andsignificant cultural and historical heritage. Popovićsaid that the Government of Montenegro adopted a nautical tourism strategy several years ago, and has precisely definedpoints whereat marinas will be constructed, followed by the development of classification and preparations for the con-

struction of marinas. This is a material of very high quality whereatseven Montenegrin marinas were presented with all particular de-tails, offers, and services being provided.

Deputy Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Telecommunica-tions, Srđa Vukčević, emphasized that the Law on Yachts, in appli-cation in Montenegro for one year already, will be more efficient andeasier for implementation, from the legal point of view, with the de-velopment of this Guide. He stated that the reason for this is the factthat publication of the Nautical Tourism Guide merged relevant in-formation from the existing publications of the Police Administrationand Port Authority, which will provide to yachtsmen information withregard to the safety issues, data on safe heavens, services, andother relevant data.

GTZ Regional Director for the Western Balkans, Thomas Waldraff,said that nautical tourism represents just another piece of puzzle inimplementation of the Tourism Development Strategy of Montene-gro and Montenegrin tourism offer. Waldraff emphasized, when hecompared results Montenegro achieved in nautical tourism with ourcompetitors in 2009, that our country is evidently in better positionthat the neighboring countries and Europe in general since all indi-cators state that this year’s season was at the level of the last year.Waldraff concluded that nautical tourism represents a significantadded value to the tourism offer for Montenegro.

PRESS BRIEFING HELD ON THE OCCASION OF PUBLICATION OFTHE NAUTICAL TOURISM GUIDE

GTZ Regional Director for the Western Balkans, ThomasWaldraff, said that nautical tourism represents just anotherpiece of puzzle in implementation of the Tourism Develop-ment Strategy of Montenegro and Montenegrin tourismoffer.

July 2009

13.

ACTIVITIES DURING THE PREVIOUS MONTH

Ministry of Tourism ofMontenegro and the Of-fice of the United Na-tions DevelopmentP r o g r a m m e(UNDP)have donatedto the MountaineeringFederation of Montene-gro the equipment invalue of €10,000 and tothe Mountain RescueService the equipmentin value of €40,000 aspart of the project “Hik-ing and Biking”. This isone of the activities that the Ministry and UNDP carryout in order to strengthen institutional capacities aimedat developing hiking and biking as the tourism offer seg-ment. Funds in the amount of €100,000 are allocated bythe Government, while UNDP has allocated for this ac-tivity funds in the amount of $100,000.

According to the president of the Mountaineering Fed-eration of Montenegro, Brano Perović, this donation willhelp the Mountaineering Federation to strengthen its ca-pacities and help mountaineering clubs in Montenegro intheir intents to promote mountain trails and present thisoffer to national and foreign guests.

Manager for Tourism Development of UNDP, TomicaPaović, emphasized that this is only one of the activitiesUNDP implements in cooperation with the Ministry ofTourism as part of the development of hiking and biking,and that the strengthening of the Mountain Rescue Serv-ice of Montenegro (GSS), which received equipment inthe value of €40,000, represents a particularly importantactivity. The equipment donated to the GSS will be alsoaccompanied with other activities such are: training ofnew mountain and ski rescuers, membership in Interna-tional Commission for Alpine Rescue (IKAR-CISA), etc.

Adviser in the Ministry of Tourism, Enis Ljuljanović,stated on this occasion that the Ministry of Tourismworks intensively this year on the development of na-ture-oriented tourism, in cooperation with large numberof national and foreign partners and representatives ofmountaineering and biking federations. The Moun-taineering Federation of Montenegro, with the network ofmountaineering clubs is recognized as one of the im-portant owners of development of hiking in Montenegro.

VALUABLE DONATION PRESENTED TO THE MOUNTAINEERINGFEDERATION OF MONTENEGRO AND THE MOUNTAIN RESCUE

SERVICE

July 2009

14.

ACTIVITIES DURING THE PREVIOUS MONTH

the entire territory of Montenegro, as well as to reveal roadsgoing through the most beautiful landscapes. One needed tocover more than 20,000km in order to prepare documenta-tion for 1,700km covered in the Book. The author said thatMontenegro represents a real paradise for people loving na-ture and mountaineering. In addition to trails covered in thebook, material was prepared for additional 2,000km and po-tentials are even larger.

Adviser to the National Tourism Organization, Kirsi Hyvaeri-nen, briefly presented the contents of the book as seen by auser. According to her opinion, this book represents a back-bone for development of tourism in the hinterland and moun-tain part of Montenegro.

All needed information about the book are on the web sitewww.mapsolutions.de/MTB-Book.

On 24 July, in the premises of the Ministry ofTourism, the book “Wilderness Biking Montene-gro” by the author Rade Minić from Nikšić, waspromoted, which describes 1,700km of unknownfor many, extraordinarily attractive biking routes.

On that occasion, the adviser in the Ministry ofTourism, Dušanka Pavićević, said that the bookis result of the cooperation of the Ministry ofTourism and National Tourism Organization andthe author and represents a product of author’sseveral years of work and research. It is printedin English, and the quality of content, tearproofand waterproof paper make the book unique notonly in the region but also broader. The publi-cation contains tourist maps in English and Ger-man language. In the first phase, the book willbe distributed in Germany and Great Britain, butis also available on internet. The cooperationwith the author is expanded to also develop such type ofpublications for each of the high-end trails for mountain bik-ing and biking, thus some 2,000km of additional trails wereprepared and documented, and their publication will be oneof the priorities in the coming period.

The author of the book, Rade Minić, emphasized that thebook represents a guide with 17 carefully selectedpanoramic trails having more than 1,700km. The book isdesigned in such manner that is also understandable tothose that do not know how to read maps. It covers all re-gions of Montenegro, simple schematics present additionalphotos of crossroads, mean sea level for easy of GPSusers. Differences in altitudes covered in the book rangefrom 2AMSL to 2,156AMSL on the Hridski krš.

The primary objective was to make geographic coverage of

BOOK ”WILDERNESS BIKING MONTENEGRO” PROMOTED

The author of the book, Rade Minić, emphasized that the book represents a guide with 17 carefully selectedpanoramic trails having more than 1,700km. The book is designed in such manner that is also understandableto those that do not know how to read maps. It covers all regions of Montenegro, simple schematics presentadditional photos of crossroads, mean sea level for easy of GPS users.

Differences in altitudes covered in the book range from 2AMSL to 2,156AMSL on the Hridski krš. The primaryobjective was to make geographic coverage of the entire territory of Montenegro, as well as to reveal roadsgoing through the most beautiful landscapes.

July 2009

15.

ARTICLES ABOUT MONTENEGRO IN THE FOREIGN PRESS

Lonely Planet, renown publishing house, haspublished its first guide on Montenegro. Havingin mind excellent distribution network of this pub-lishing house, the guide could be found in allsales points around the world.

“Imagine a place with sapphire beaches as spec-tacular as Croatia’s, rugged peaks as dramaticas Switzerland’s, canyons nearly as deep as Col-orado’s, palazzos as elegant as Venice’s andtowns as old as Greece’s, then wrap it up in aMediterranean climate and squish it into an areatwo-thirds the size of Wales and you start to getthe picture of Montenegro”, these are the wordsof the author of the guide to start the story aboutour country. The entire guide is a product of re-search and writing of the journalist Petar Drag-ičević, who works for well-known publicationsand magazines in New Zealand and Australia,and this guide presents overall values Montene-gro can offer in an extraordinary point of view.

Guide covers articles about history, the culture,food and drink, various landscapes of Montene-gro, lifestyle and customs. Detailed informationon accommodation, activities that visitors canenjoy during vacation, festivals and events, im-portant telephone numbers, visa regime, healthprotection, and other are also presented. Theend of the guide contains phrases and expres-sions dictionary, as well as 33 maps with detaileddescription of all towns.

“Experience the best of Montenegro with LonelyPlanet. Simple description of Montenegrin richculture and natural attractions. Many travelersconsider Montenegro to be a new discovery andcertainly they like what they discover. Incrediblycharming littoral villages and beaches, and fan-tastic mountains are the first thing that enchantsand captures traveler’s attention”.

Lonely Planet is a guide which is the renownname in tourism world for the last thirty years.Publication of the edition on Montenegro is an-other indicator of good image and prospects ofMontenegro as tourism destination.

„LONELY PLANET“ PUBLISHED A GUIDE ABOUT MONTENEGRO

Many travelers consider Montenegro to be a new discovery andcertainly they like what they discover. Incredibly charming lit-toral villages and beaches, and fantastic mountains are the firstthing that enchants and captures traveler’s attention