The fact that the departure of Ukrainian and Russian citizens will affect the tourist traffic is also confirmed by the latest data of the Budva Tourism Organization, which generated 40 percent less income from the collection of tourist tax for the first two months of this year.
TO Budve collected a total of 4 thousand euros from the beginning of the year to March 134 in the name of tourist tax, which is even 40 percent less than in the same period last year, according to the data provided to "Vijesta" from the richest tourist organization in Montenegro. Burning.
Last year, in the same period, during January and February, a total of 227 thousand euros were collected from the collection of residence tax.
Such lower incomes are related to the smaller number of Ukrainian and Russian citizens residing in Budva, and that many of them have left the tourism metropolis in the past six months, while the arrival of citizens from the conflicting countries is significantly lower than a year ago.
Weaker inflows from the residence tax were especially during February, when TO Budva generated an income of 65 thousand euros, or 35 percent less, than in February last year.
The service of the Budva TO registers a lower number of applications for the stay of foreign citizens than last year. So, as they told "Vijesta" until March 4, there were a total of 14.182 applications, which is 19.443 percent less compared to the same period last year, when there were 27. During February, there were a total of 7.045 residence applications, or a fifth less than last year.
The collection of tourist tax is also lower, so a total of 81 thousand euros were collected by the beginning of March, which is six thousand euros less than last year in the same period, but even 21 thousand euros more than in 2022.
When it comes to membership contributions, TO Budva collected 7.600 euros in the first two months of this year, five thousand less than last year or even 32 thousand less than in the same period in 2022.
The only place where there was an increase in income, as "Vijesti" was told in TO Budva, is from the collection of excursion tax. By the beginning of March, a total of 3.767 euros were earned on this basis, twice as much as last year, while in 2022, only 156 euros were generated from the collection of excursion tax.
As stated by TO, no income was generated during the previous week from the collection of residence tax for watercraft.
Such statistical data on the reduction of all types of income, from TO Budva for "Vijesti", explain that the drop in the number of residence applications and collection of residence tax refers to small traffic samples, i.e. the period outside the main tourist season.
"For the sake of comparison, three days in the season have the same weight, that is, the number of residence applications and the collection of the residence tax as one whole month in the period from November 1 to April 1," emphasizes TO Budva.
As they state, the decline in the number of residence applications refers mainly to Ukrainian and Russian citizens who return to their home countries or go to another country, move from Budva.
"Related to this is the decline in the collection of residence tax, which is somewhat more pronounced due to the fact that a significant number of citizens of the two mentioned countries have regulated their temporary stay in Montenegro, and they no longer have the status of tourists, therefore they do not pay the residence tax", they explain in the local THAT.
When it comes to forecasts for the upcoming summer season, TO Budva points out that it is still too early to give forecasts and conclusions.
Until now, the "holes" in the collection of the residence tax have always been repaired during the summer peak, when the number of residence applications is extremely high, because tens of thousands of guests come to Budva on vacation.
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