The abolition of visas and saving the tourist season at the expense of EU integration is a consequence of the government's previous bad moves in the tourism sector, Miloš Đuričković, international secretary of the Social Democrats (SD) and representative of the European Union, announced today.
"The decision of the Government of Montenegro to abolish visas for citizens of Egypt, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan during the summer tourist season is a temporary solution, i.e. a practice to help the tourism industry, which should no longer be practiced," Đuričković stressed in a statement.
He added that "in the earlier stages of accession negotiations with the EU, this decision was not problematic, while today, considering the dynamics of EU integration that is expected of us, it would definitely mean a step in the wrong direction."
"There are several solutions to help the tourism industry open the aforementioned markets without negatively affecting the European integration process. The best solution is certainly to open embassies and consulates in countries from which a significant number of tourists come and countries with which there is significant potential for the development of economic and tourism cooperation. In this way, the tourism industry would be helped in an incomparably better and longer-term way, and there would be no challenges and problems in the EU integration process," said Đuričković.
He added that it is clear that it is too late for this season to open embassies and consulates, but that this is something that needs to be worked on starting today for the next tourist season.
"It is also clear that this is a forced move due to the disastrous policy of the Government in the past period. This Government, for the first time, has seen a decline in tourism revenue (excluding the pandemic period), a drop in the number of overnight stays by 800.000, increased VAT in tourism and questioned the organization of bathing areas for the upcoming tourist season. Therefore, the abolition of visas for certain countries at this stage of EU integration represents an attempt to correct the Government's harmful decisions, i.e. saving the tourist season. In order not to save the season at the expense of EU integration or EU integration at the expense of the tourism industry, I call on the Government to turn to sustainable and better solutions. Instead of abolishing visas for the aforementioned countries, it is possible to open temporary visa centers. These centers could be staffed by personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of the Interior, following the example of a neighboring EU country," said Đuričković.
He said that it is also possible to "revise the Agreement between Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia on mutual representation in the provision of consular protection and services in third countries."
"According to the aforementioned agreement, the Republic of Serbia provides visa issuance services in these countries, but this system has proven to be inefficient and economically unprofitable for the tourism industry, since the price of a Montenegrin visa charged by Serbian diplomatic missions is around two hundred euros, while in Montenegrin diplomatic missions it costs 35 euros. The agreement could be revised in a part that would allow for the temporary posting of officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro to the diplomatic missions of the Republic of Serbia for the needs of the season, who could perform this work at the Montenegrin rate and much more efficiently compared to the current practice. If the Republic of Serbia is not willing, I believe that, in accordance with previous discussions, the Republic of Turkey would be willing and interested in cooperation on the aforementioned principle, especially considering that a significant number of tourists from these countries arrive via Istanbul," said Đuričković.
In his words, "in order to protect and assist the tourism industry of Montenegro and our citizens, who generate income from tourism, we are willing to offer the Government of Montenegro assistance in implementing solutions that would benefit the tourism industry without being detrimental to EU integration."
Bonus video:
