Member of the tourism committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro Dragan Ivancevic condemned the decision of the Board of Directors of the Railway Transport of Montenegro to cancel excursion trains on the Bar - Kolašin route, considering that this was a major blow to the heart of Montenegrin tourism.
"Last night there was a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Railway, they considered further cooperation with the tourism industry. It used to be that after September 15, when the regular lines to Belgrade ended, there were special trains twice a week, which were mostly full of foreign tourists, from 15 to 180, on the route Bar - Kolašin. Now we have sold the train on September 19, and the one on September 15 was canceled under the pretext, as could be heard at the session, that they are not obliged to give us trains. It is a commercial service, hiring a train twice a week until the end of October. This is the most attractive excursion in Montenegro. Guests are taken to Kolašin by buses, where they go around and return through the Morača canyon and Lake Biograd," Ivančević told "Vijesta".
He pointed out that the foreign tour operators they cooperate with could not believe that Montenegro was scoring new own goals on its own.
"So they are ready to unilaterally cancel consultations with long-term partners who 'fill' those excursion trains without notifying the tourism industry. They make it impossible for tourists, mostly from Western Europe, to see the most attractive parts of Montenegro. We don't know what the reason is, but I'm afraid that this looks like the further collapse of what is the backbone of the Montenegrin economy, which is tourism. Because if such an attack is made on the most attractive excursion, which was the best-selling excursion in our rich excursion program, then I'm afraid that after VAT, it will be another big blow when it comes to tourism. We will try to inform the authorities about everything that is happening, but I am afraid that there is no mood to understand, for Montenegro to turn to the most attractive parts of its country, to valorize them through tourist stays, especially through excursions, and in this way, in addition to collecting funds, we promote our country as a tourist destination with the most diverse excursion program", Ivančević pointed out.
According to him, the train trip was one of the best-selling in recent years.
"That was without any risk for the Railway. Now we have that someone has made a one-time decision not to continue that program without pardon and thus deceive our partners and deny tourists to see the most beautiful parts of our country", concluded Ivančević .
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