Since the change of government, Montenegro has gone from an attractive and unavoidable tourist destination for foreign guests to a state where citizens wonder if it is a tourist country at all, announced the Budva Municipal Committee of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).
Technical minister Goran Đurović continued following the beaten path of the previous minister of tourism, Jakov Milatović, who chased away Amman and turned Sveti Stefan into a mockery, and put citizens in a situation where they have to pay 100 million euros if the state loses the arbitration proceedings in London. This is evidenced by the effects of the government, in which Đurović dealt primarily with propaganda, while the image of Montenegro as a tourist destination was crumbling before our eyes," the announcement states.
The DPS said that in addition to natural potential and a good image, not a single new investor has been secured, while the existing ones are being dispersed, that tourists are harassed in traffic jams, caused by unprepared roads and poor infrastructure, and that the ferry line Kamenari-Lepetani has been closed for months in chaos and collapse.
"The unregulated legal regulations left restaurateurs without an adequate workforce, so many of them were not able to open facilities and achieve the much-needed livelihood for families," said the Budva DPS.
They recalled that the Sea Dance festival, which brought tens of millions of EUR of direct income to the state and generated the arrival of hundreds of thousands of tourists, left Montenegro due to the negligent and irresponsible attitude of the authorities.
"Numerous cruise ships bypass our coast and during their tours take guests from popular tourist destinations to other destinations. Low cost airlines have canceled flights to Zagreb, Rome, Barcelona and Vienna due to the inadequate handling of the authorities by increasing airport taxes," DPS said.
They added that the Airport in Tivat, which in 2019 during the record season had more than a million passengers, has been reduced to the level of a leaking tobacconist and is becoming an object of ridicule.
"The Podgorica airport, although it was overbooked with 200 new employees in the previous period, was not able to respond to the tasks and needs, and the passengers, after the employees left their jobs at the passport controls, had to self-organize, and this once again confirmed that in our country there is no rule of law," DPS announced.
They added that the new government has caused hard-to-compensate and almost permanent damage to the tourism sector.
"The impression remains that Montenegro does not even have a tourism minister, but this sector is left to the elements and to total disintegration," said the Budva DPS.
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