It is better to give the incompetent government and ministries under foreign concession, and for the airports to remain state-owned, announced today the president of the Main Committee (GO) of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and representative of the European Union, Mirko Stanić.
His author's text, submitted by the European Union, is reproduced in full:
For a long time, Montenegrin airports have been showing that they cannot cope with much better competition that has managed to catch the wave of huge growth in the number of passengers and destinations after the corona. To explain it simply, 5-6 years ago it was common to see a large number of vehicles with Albanian license plates at Podgorica airport, today you see Montenegrin license plates in the parking lot of the airport in Tirana. The country there has realized that without air connectivity there is no future for tourism, which is why they have the highest growth rates of both air transport and tourism in Europe.
On the other hand, in our country, airports are seen as someone else's property that needs to be disposed of as soon as possible, and not as a development lever for a country where the majority of citizens live and work in the tourism sector. Montenegro, along with Croatia, has the largest share of tourism in GDP, and this must be the starting premise of any decision that can significantly affect tourism development. There is no investment in airports, there are no incentive schemes at the state level, winter traffic is reduced to Belgrade and Istanbul, while in summer, crowds, heat, a small number of counters and passenger scanners are one of the ugly images sent from Montenegro.
Not to mention that even after 15 years there is no talk of expanding capacity, new terminals or equipment for night landings. Then, as a salvation from the party management of that company and the inability to do the bare minimum, a concession is sought to make the two airports "work". Maybe then a better solution is to put the incompetent Government and ministries under a foreign concession, while the airports remain state-owned?
The issue of low-cost airlines is partly a question of airport management, but it is much more a state strategy, in which everyone who benefits from these flights participates. From the Government, the Ministry of Tourism, NTO, through local administrations. Air accessibility of Montenegro during the 9 months when there is no summer season would ensure permanent employment of workers in tourism and hospitality, a significant increase in state revenues from taxes and excise duties, as well as sustainable development of the destination.
Therefore, the issue of airport concessions needs to be approached with much more transparency and through the development of innovative studies that would demonstrate the justification for such a decision. In any case, our airports need significant investments in order to at least keep up with regional competition and thus open up the possibility of hundreds of thousands of tourists coming to our country throughout the year. Only by creating a development strategy that will include the tourism industry, as well as local communities, can we come up with a solution that is best for airports, employees, and the entire country.
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