That the Ministry of Tourism enact legislation as soon as possible, according to which all travel agencies will be able to keep the advance - deposit paid by clients for all trips that were scheduled between March 1 and October 30, and which were canceled by clients due to the global pandemic. That the operations of travel agencies were treated as closed businesses; that the implementation of the Law on Traffic, which has just been passed, be postponed for another year; strengthen the inspection supervision of those who perform the work of tourist guides without a license issued by our ministry. This is only part of the proposal for measures to help travel agencies during and after Covid-19, which was sent by the Montenegrin Tourist Association - the sector of travel agencies.
"The tourism development and promotion project, which is implemented by the Council for Regional Cooperation and financed by the European Union, conducted a survey of travel agencies and tour operators from the Western Balkans. Preliminary results show that 42 percent of travel agencies and tour operators have already started cutting costs and laid off some workers. About 20 percent of them have already stopped working, while 41 percent have enough resources to maintain normal work for only three months. Given that it would be difficult for them to cope with such circumstances on their own, 72 percent of agencies and operators in the tourism sector in the region expect the support of their governments in order to continue their work once the blockade caused by the spread of the COVID 19 virus is over," the Sector at the CTU states.
They pointed out to the relevant ministry, as well as to the Government of Montenegro, that the business of travel agencies does not represent a simple gathering of people in order to fill a certain means of transport or certain accommodation capacities, while the same is charged from the guests, so they will be left to fend for themselves. and have a nice time.
"Nor can it be our goal, but it is a very complex way of doing business that depends on very precise preparation and dynamics of work, the quality of suppliers, and the quality of the workforce that is engaged in accordance with the travel program. Of course, this is all necessary if we want the guest to leave our destination satisfied, even to visit our beautiful country again. We believe that the picture of the business of travel agencies is wrong, and that our business is largely viewed through the prism of individual agencies that work in such a way that they are concentrated on the quantity, and not on the quality of the service they provide. In order for a multi-day program to be ready, the travel agency must engage its human and financial resources months in advance. The Government of Montenegro has categorized travel agencies as business entities that did not have to close due to the pandemic, but whose business is at risk. We believe that there is an elementary misunderstanding of the business of travel agencies in this matter," the Department of Travel Agencies points out.
They proposed a set of measures to overcome the problem in which travel agencies found themselves.
"That the Ministry of Tourism enact legislation as soon as possible according to which all travel agencies will be able to keep the advance - deposit paid by clients for all trips that were scheduled between March 1 and the end of this season (October 30) , which were canceled by clients due to the global pandemic. Guests would be issued a tourist voucher - which would be a guarantee that they could choose a new date of arrival in Montenegro for the same or another program. If the guests do not use the voucher within a period of 18 months, the travel agency would be obliged to return the paid deposit to the guests. This would certainly be significant for the travel agency due to liquidity, and it would increase the chance that clients who canceled their trip will return to Montenegro in the near future. A period of 18 months may be sufficient for the agency to survive and recover," the proposal states.
They propose that the operations of travel agencies be treated as closed businesses.
"The seasonality of our business will also be taken into account, bearing in mind that we have already run out of pre-season. Therefore, for every employee in travel agencies, the aid measures that apply to employees from the category of the most vulnerable companies should be valid for three months, and after three months, the situation should be reviewed and the further need to provide a set of aid measures should be considered. An alternative to this could be a set of measures that will be valid for the entire season, modeled on the countries of the region, especially Croatia," the proposal states.
They also propose to make an agreement with the Ministry of Transport, which is of enormous importance for travel agencies, to postpone the implementation of the Law on Traffic, which has just been passed, for another year and to move the start of its implementation to 2022.
"In fact, all travel agencies and limo companies, which operated before 2020, had the opportunity to adapt to operations until the next season of 2021. Considering that all companies will suffer huge losses this season, it is difficult to expect that anyone will able to be ready to work under the new law in such a short period of time. It is well known that the adjustment will require large financial investments that are very difficult to acquire in the current situation, and later because we must primarily focus on finding a solution to finance the company's liquidity until the beginning of the next season (2021). Also, there is a problem of price policy and competitiveness here. We are already receiving requests from partners that the prices of services and packages will have to be lower because the paying power of travelers will also weaken with this crisis. If the new law starts to be implemented as planned, the prices of transportation services will also rise, and therefore the prices of excursions and package tours will rise, and not decrease as our partners demand," the CTU points out.
They insist that the line ministry strengthen inspection measures against persons who perform the work of tourist guides without a license issued by our ministry.
"We have witnessed for years that a large number of foreign agencies do not use the services of local guides from Montenegro, but that role is taken over by their "tour leaders". We have the occurrence of such cases every day during the tourist season, so that a large number of local agencies and licensed tourist guides lose money, money flows out of the country due to non-payment of taxes. The law exists, stronger regulations with stronger sanctions are needed, as well as better supervision of the inspection service at all important tourist sites in Montenegro", the CTU states.
As they add, they are ready as the Montenegrin tourist association, especially the travel agency sector, to make a maximum contribution in launching a campaign to animate primarily the domestic and regional market for guests to stay in Montenegro.
"The experience from the campaign "Everyone at sea - everyone on vacation" from 2010 gives us a good example of the potential of this idea. The campaign would include an offer that would allow guests, based on an electronic voucher, to use a large number of benefits, primarily in the form of discounts in hotels, private accommodation, restaurants, excursion programs, rental car services, transportation and the like," the CTU concludes.
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