Prime Minister Đukanović: Montenegro's tourism industry shows continued positive trends

Podgorica, Montenegro (28 May 2014) -- Montenegro is one of the few tourist destinations that has managed to maintain its trend of continuous growth in the years of global economic crisis, Prime Minister Milo Đukanović noted within Questions to the Prime Minister session which was held yesterday at the Parliament of Montenegro.

“Progress of the Montenegrin tourism is evident both in the quality of supply and measured by quantitative data and financial effects,“ the Prime Minister said responding to a question on how the Government plans to continue positive trends in tourism.

He reiterated that the first quarter of 2014 saw an increase in tourists arrivals of 2.2% and overnights increase of 8.2% compared to the same period last year.

“In the first four months, the Tivat aeroport recorded the traffic increase of 25.5% and the trend has been continued in May. Charter flights from the EU member states will record a growth of 24%, while the increase in charter flights from Russia is projected to be at the rate of 33%,” Prime Minister Đukanović explained.

In his words, the government has adopted a plan for the preparation of the tourist season containing activities aimed at boosting tourism offer through the implementation of infrastructure projects, and it has allocated about EUR 83 million for these purposes.

Much of future tourism development will be driven by greenfield investments which are expected to contribute to higher standard of hotel capacities, which will result in a greater number of tourists, PM Đukanović underlined.

Some of them, which are in progress or in the final stage, are: Porto Montenegro, Portonovi, Luštica, Aman resort, Queen's Beach, Blue Horizons, Maljevik, Bigovo, Bjelasica, and Komovi, he explained.

According to Prime Minister Đukanović, special attention is paid to creating an attractive environment for developing high quality hotels through the reduction of taxes and other utility charges.

“Lowering the VAT rate on all services within a hotel capacity has been suggested," he stated, adding that a dozen 5-star hotels with nearly 1.000 new beds are expected to be completed in 2014.

With regard to Montenegro’s transport accessibility, continuous activities aimed at improving airport infrastructure and better accessibility when it comes to air transport are continued to be implemented, as well as the activities on enhancing the road infrastructure, focusing on the Bar Boljare motorway construction and railways modernisation.

The Prime Minister said it is crucial to create conditions for the cruise tourism expansion and to pursue a policy of visa exemptions for tourists arriving from countries significant for Montenegro’s tourism.