The campaign "Observe the law. Report guests. Register accommodation in a few steps" was presented today in Podgorica, and the director of the Tourism Organization (TO) of Podgorica, Dragan Grnović, said that the campaign is an opportunity for accommodation providers to improve, legalize and digitize their business.
The press conference on the occasion of the start of the campaign, which is implemented by the Secretariat for Entrepreneurship and Investments and the Tourism Organization of Podgorica, was held in the press room of the Assembly of the Capital City.
It was announced that the campaign will last a month, and its goal is to inform accommodation providers about the importance of registering activities and registering guests' stay, reports the Media Bureau.
Grnović pointed out that 2023 was the most successful year in TO business with the largest number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays, and that for the first two months of 2024, a growth of four percent was recorded. Despite such good results, it added, challenges remain in the private accommodation segment.
"After a comprehensive analysis that included a review of social media, accommodation registration platforms, information from the TO Podgorica info center and advertising platforms, we came to the data that we have 220 registered publishers who manage 308 accommodation facilities, while on the other hand we have 272 unregistered publishers who they operate in a gray area. This obliges us to launch this campaign, which will aim to provide equal business conditions for all market participants," Grnović pointed out.
Bearing in mind that accommodation issuers mostly encounter administrative barriers when collecting and preparing the administration, TO Podgorica has decided to provide administrative support to all issuers until the decision of the Secretariat for Entrepreneurship and Investments is received.
"Accommodation providers will have the obligation to report to the Information Center of the Tourist Organization, where colleagues delegated for cooperation with the tourism industry will help fill out all forms and documentation that will later be submitted to the Secretariat for Entrepreneurship for further decision-making. We have also improved the system with an application that enables electronic registration of tourist stays, which accommodation providers will receive completely free of charge. What publishers had to come to the TO Podgorica Info Center for, they can now do very simply with two clicks practically from their home. The legal obligation of the accommodation provider is to collect the residence tax and to pay the final payment to the Tourist Organization," said the director of TO Podgorica.
If, even after this campaign, accommodation providers do not register their accommodation and register guests, TO Podgorica and the Secretariat for Entrepreneurship and Investments have announced that they will start with more repressive measures, and that the Tourist Inspection will be more rigorous in issuing penalties for unregistered providers.
"What motivated us to start this campaign is that we noticed that a large number of accommodation providers are in the gray zone, and the cost for registration is insignificant. The cost of issuing a decision is 30 euros, plus an administrative fee of 200 euros. The Law on Tourism and Hospitality prescribes fines for illegal issuing of accommodation and marketing of accommodation for natural persons from 2.000 to 2.000 euros, while the prescribed fines for legal persons, if the Law is violated, are from 20.000 to XNUMX euros. The cost of registration is trivial compared to the fines if this law is violated," said the secretary of the Secretariat for Entrepreneurship and Investments, Šućo Orahovac.
Grnović invited all publishers to contact the Info Center of the Tourist Organization Podgorica, in order to take advantage of this campaign, improve, legalize and digitize their business in a few simple steps, and comply with the law and report accommodation, it is concluded.
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